A High Court judge has ordered the release of two Venezuelans from the custody of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) to that of the Chief Immigration Officer.

The order comes after attorneys for the two, who are detained at the heliport in Chaguaramas, filed a writ of habeas corpus seeking their release after they were held at a bar in St James on July 9.

In their lawsuit, the two challenged the authority of the Defence Force to detain them.

At a hearing late Thursday, Justice Jacqueline Wilson made the order while declining to rule on the issue of the legality of the two’s detention by the CDS, also adding that the length of their detention would justify their release.

Commenting on the court’s decision, attorney Darrell Allahar said he would assume the two would be removed from the heliport.

“While the judge found it was not necessary to rule whether the military can detain civilians, I am of the view they cannot in peacetime as we are not under martial law or a state of emergency.”

Immigration sources said the two could be placed on conditional release until they can purchase their tickets for their deportation to Venezuela. However, since the State has already indicated it was in a position to deport the larger group as early as Thursday, it is expected these two will also join the others as their deportation orders still stand.

Newsday was told the repatriation exercise was expected to take place on July 15, however, it did not take place as planned.

In the writ, attorneys for the two called on the CDS, Air Vice Marshall Darryl Daniel, to justify their continued detention at the heliport, a facility controlled by the Defence Force, which was established as an immigration station by the National Security Minister on July 26.

The two are also represented by attorneys Aaron Mahabir, Kadeem Williams, Matthew Allahar, Danyal Mohammed and Mathias Sylvester.

The heliport was previously used as a designated covid19 quarantine centre to detain illegal migrants during the pandemic but ceased to be when the pandemic ended. The continued detention of illegal migrants there was challenged and deemed unlawful by two High Court judges prompting the minister to exercise his powers under the Immigration Act to designate the heliport as an immigration station.

On Wednesday, the writ was granted and at a hearing, Wilson considered the two applications.

In their application, attorneys for the two say they were issued deportation orders on July 14 and 21, but are yet to be sent back to Venezuela.

The two were among a larger group of almost 200 who were held at the Apex Bar. So far, at least 80 of them have challenged their detention. Six were ordered released by Justice Avason Quinlan-Williams while the same was ordered for 64 of them on Tuesday by Justice Ricky Rahim. Of the 64, only 30 were released on orders of supervision before the State filed an urgent appeal seeking to stay Rahim’s orders to facilitate the repatriation of the others who were not immediately released when the judge made the order.