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His American sister in law who sponsored his trip here gave us all the details today as to how their planned holiday turned into a total fiasco after immigration refused him entry:

She flew in her brother in law to celebrate his birthday in Belize, but their plans went awry when he was held by immigration authorities at the PGIA. Sheila Williams, who is an American citizen, spoke with us today about the treatment she and her in brother in law Christopher Mcintre received at the airport upon his arrival. She claims there is no way he could have been flagged for human smuggling because all the necessary documents were presented upon immigration's request and the only reason they held him was because the AirBnB reservations were not in his name.

Sheila Williams, Brother in law Detained
"Well on the 30th myself and a Belizean friend went to pick him up at the airport and he wasn't coming out, he wasn't coming out I was getting very anxious and very nervous so my friend said let me go check what's going on and he said they are detaining him and I was just crying and crying and crying and I said let me just see if I can talk to them and see if you can see him anyway so I went in and they let me go into the detention room with him and on detention officer who was very nice and he said you know the problem is that the accommodations are not in his name and I said well I can call these places and have them change the reservation you know, changing names on a reservation is not hard. So as I was in the process of doing that the supervisor a woman supervisor came in and she says you are out of time this is done and told me I had to leave the room and basically told me that I don't have any right. She said are you a Belizean citizen and I said no. Are you a resident and I said no and she said you have no right to invite somebody to this country you are not a Belizean and we are sending him back to his country and you need to leave now I said can I say goodbye to him? And she said you need to leave right now and that's the last time I saw Chris until last night."

They agreed for him to be held at a hotel and then sent back on Friday January third. The family retained attorney Norman Rodriguez:

Norman Rodriguez, Attorney
"Immediately he said I just want to go home he has a young child, I believe 2 years old and he wanted to get back home because the purpose for which he had come to Belize was already a failed purpose. They had detained him and I informed her of such and they agreed. I spoke to Ms Mai when I came into the airport because I came in through Houston and Ms Mai was very friendly and the usual Ms Mai when you meet with her and she took me to see him immediately. I informed her what his decision was and we agreed that she would facilitate his return to Jamaica on Friday."

Williams also booked herself on that flight out of Belize to Panama but she says that when she got to Panama she discovered that her brother in law was still being held in Belize. And this time he had been allegedly assaulted by a police officer while in custody.

Norman Rodriguez, Attorney
"At 6:14 Pm on Friday night or evening I received a call from Mr Macintyre and he was very hysterical he was crying and he said look I was just assaulted and beaten by a police officer I said I will come to see you in the morning. When I went to see him his instructions to me was that when he spoke to Ms Mai Friday evening she expressed to him that he had missed his plane and at that moment he started shouting in the airport I went to go home I want to go home and a police officer came out of nowhere and grabbed him by his shirt. These are the allegations right, grabbed him by his shirt in a way that he was choked with the way he was holding him and pulling him. He fell to the ground and the allegation is further that the police officer slapped him in his face and he said thumped which I understand to be punched him in his stomach such that he experienced severe pain on his ribs."

Christopher Mcintre, Detained for immigration offense
"I was in customs when, I went to the customs thats when they told us that we missed the flight so I started to say I want to go home I want to go home and they brought us back to the immigration room where we stopped and the guy pulled me, pulled me on the ground and hauled me by my neck slap me in my face and hit me in my ribs."

Norman Rodriguez, Attorney
"He just attacked you without you doing anything?"

Christopher Mcintre, Detained for immigration offense
"No I didnt do anything."

Norman Rodriguez, Attorney
"You did not speak any kind of way to him?"

Christopher Mcintre, Detained for immigration offense
"No I did not offend him. I did not offend anybody there."

Norman Rodriguez, Attorney
"So you did not break any laws for the police to use any force on you?"

Christopher Mcintre, Detained for immigration offense
"No."

Sheila Williams, Brother in law Detained
"I got to see Chris for the first time last night and when I went to hug him his ribs he said you can't touch me there it's sore. You know I don't know how people can be treated that way I just don't understand he is supposed to be able to come to Belize I invited him here he was excited this was supposed to be a vacation. If we would have gone back on Friday none of this would be. If they had him on that plane with me none of this would be."

According to Rodriguez while these immigration cases do occur frequently at the PGIA it's rare that detainees are assaulted or brutalized upon being detained, which makes this case far more serious than it really is.

Norman Rodriguez, Attorney
"The issue of him being refused entry should be a normal procedure. The immigration officer who interviews an intending visitor is to look at section 5, 1 of the immigration act chapter 156 of the substantive laws of Belize revised edition 2020. And to see if that person falls between any of the prohibited immigrants at that point in a case like Mr Mcntyre section 5, 1A may apply or would have possibly applied that is before I found out his circumstances which states that the person must not be a charge on public funds or he must show that he has enough funds to sustain himself while in Belize that would transcend to the examination of the return ticket, the accommodation and the amount of money that person would have in his pocket he seemed to have had those but he had further support from Ms Williams who went in there and was able to provide the documents you heard what she said that the port commander said certain things to her and this is where we are but the issue of police brutality is now live in this matter and I am hoping that the commissioner of police will act of this he has shown that he will definitely address these issues so I am calling on him to address this issue and be fair on both ends as he normally is and the police will decide on that issue of the criminal charge."

Mcintire has decided to stay in Belize until at least Friday so that he has time to file a criminal compliant against the officer that assaulted him.

McIntire plans to make his complaint and then participate in any hearings through statements or virtually.

We note that Jamaicans are quite regularly refused entry because authorities believe that many of them are using their visa free CARICOM status in Belize to head north to the US.

His sister in law believes he was racially profiled.