By Clint Chan Tack Newsday TT

THREE TRINIDADIAN women yesterday related a 48-hour horror story which ended in them being thrown out of the United States by Immigration Officers and denied future entry into that country. This was the common bond forged among Kelly Jobity of Laventille, Angela Austin of Diego Martin and Nasmar Mohammed of San Fernando. Kelly was detained by US Immigration Officers shortly after she arrived at John F Kennedy Interna-tional Airport, New York, on Saturday and was kept shackled to a chair until she returned home yesterday. She left Trinidad to attend a Deliverance Temple crusade in Brooklyn on February 25. While being held by US authorities, Kelly found two sisters in solidarity in Austin and Mohammed who were similarly detained by US Immigration Officers. The trio arrived yesterday at Piarco International Airport and walked straight into the open embrace of anxious family members.

"They had shackles on our foot and stuff because it was as if we were criminals. We weren't criminals. We had no bed to sleep on. We had to sit down whole night. We had to ask for stuff (meals, going to the bathroom). No shower. It was ridiculous," Kelly told reporters as she leaned against her father Gerald Jobity for support. Kelly said US officials gave no reason for her detention. "They just said I overstayed but I did not overstay last year I came back in time. I came back before six months (the lawful period for visitors to remain in the US under Homeland Security regulations). Kelly claimed she was among a group of five Trinidadians who were detained by US officials, interrogated and then told they were being sent back to Trinidad and Tobago. Kelly said she was happy to be back home and did not plan to ever return to the US. "I never wanted to go in the first place," she stated. Kelly said the silver lining in this whole ordeal was the fact that she was never alone.

"They (US officials) said that I overstayed which I did not. It was horrendous. We went to clear information. They put our documents in a red envelope and told us we have to go to a back office. We gave statements to an immigration officer and they then told us they have to send us back. No explanation. They wanted to put chains on my feet," Austin said. She claimed that for "standing up for her rights" she was separated from Kelly and Mohammed and placed in a room with a steel bed and steel toilet. Austin said she plans to take legal action. "I was detained in New York for no apparent reason. I went there with my daughter (13 years old) for a vacation for 13 days and they told me I was coming in the country for a little amount of time. She is a US citizen. I had to leave her there and come back to TT. They said I was working there which I was not. An Immigration Officer was rude to me. They threatened to take her (my daughter) away from me. I was telling the truth but they still insisted I was lying and they held me there," Mohammed said, weeping openly. Mohammed added that like Kelly, she too was shackled. All three women's US visas were cancelled by Immigration Officers. Kelly and Austin's visas were valid until 2005 while Mohammed's visa was valid until 2010.

"I don't know why it is they had to hold them and put on shackles on them. If you (US) are looking for terrorists go to Iraq, Iran, Syria not in Trinidad. We don't have terrorists in Trinidad. We have a loving nation. I can't understand how they could hold these people," Gerald Jobity declared. Jobity said he intends to meet with Foreign Affairs Minister Knowlson Gift to discuss the entire affair. Public Affairs Officer at the US Embassy in Port-of-Spain, Stacie Rose-Blass, said the Embassy could not comment until it receives information from the Department of Homeland Security about the entire incident.