By Admin. Updated 2:42 p.m., Sunday, January 21, 2024, Atlantic Standard Time (GMT-4).
N:B: The names of the students and the country in which they were studying were intentionally left out of this story for protection purposes.
A group of Vincentian students who studied in a Central American country a few years ago are still trying to understand why they have been characterized as terrorists at the U.S. Embassy in Barbados.
Since completing their studies and returning to St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), some of the students have tried to obtain US Visas in Barbados at the U.S. Embassy in Barbados, the Eastern Caribbean, and the OECS, but they have all been barred from obtaining visas because they have been characterized as terrorists.
The former students have raised the matter with officials in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, including Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, but SVG’s Prime Minister and its government have refused to take any action even after promises to raise the issue with the U.S. Embassy and the U.S. Department of State.
The genesis:
According to one of the former students, the incident stems from one student who was living in the country in which they resided. That one Vincentian student allegedly visited a terrorist website and had interactions with the website.
The one student in question claims that he was “only fooling around” with the website, the students said.
That activity, unknown to the other students at the time, was detected by officials in the country in which they were studying, and since then, all of the students studying at the time were falsely associated with the one student who allegedly visited the terrorist website.
Since then, the students say they were reportedly pulled into rooms at airports for questioning when trying to travel.
Some who had American Visas before the incident later found out that those visas were cancelled.
One of the former students has described the issue as an “innocent paying for the guilty” situation.
The students say the “unfair” issue has affected them gravely, with some unable to visit friends and family in the U.S., and others facing a the possibility of lifetime ban on travel to other countries since biometric and other information collected for travel is shared among countries.
One of the students has described the issue as an “unfortunate” action by authorities in the country in which they were studying, and an action on which due process was not followed and proper investigations not conducted.
Another student has expressed grave disappointment with the Vincentian government for leaving the matter as is, even amidst promises to address the “unfair” situation with officials from the U.S. government.
“How would you feel if your child or your relative went to study, did well, stayed clean, and because one single student from the batch on his own accord, messed around, that your child who was not part of the mess up is being punished?” one of the students asked.
The students say they hope for a proper and unbiased investigation to be led into the matter so that they can get their lives back.
One News SVG 
The students fail to realize that this is coming from the US government they are the only person who can clear up this the CBP don’t joke it was reckless of that one student to pull a stunt like that he should lucky he is not in jail are even worst make the CBP sound have jail all of them for knowing what was going on.we need to remember we are not home please complie with the people them rules and what they have
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