Pregnant Woman Jailed

A pregnant woman is spending her first night behind bars for failure to comply with the conditions of her Visitor’s permit. The Salvadoran, twenty-five-year-old Martha Hernandez, was caught living illegally in Belize after she had reportedly been here for more than five years. She pleaded guilty to the charge and was ordered to pay her fine of a thousand dollars forthwith, or she would spend six months behind bars. Hernandez paid the fine, and the magistrate ordered her expulsion. Hernandez will await her expulsion from Belize, which is expected about a week or so from today. Hernandez, who is in the early stages of pregnancy, was charged with failure to comply with the conditions of her visitor’s permit. Authorities say that Hernandez was found at the San Pedro Express Water Taxi Terminal in Belize City and could not produce any form of documentation to show her status in Belize. According to the immigration facts, on Thursday morning, the Belize City Immigration Investigation Unit conducted routine checks at the San Pedro Belize Express Water Taxi Terminal, where persons of interest were stopped and asked to produce a form of identification. In doing so, she could not provide any documentation to show that she is Belizean, and she was taken to the Belize City Immigration Department Office, where it was discovered that her Salvadoran passport, which was issued on January fifth, had expired. Hernandez entered Belize in September of 2018 through the Western Border and was later issued an extension to remain in Belize until February of 2019, but she got another extension thereafter.