Three Immigration officers were arrested yesterday as Government kicked off a restructuring initiative designed to expand the capacity of the Department and streamline processing of passengers.

According to a Government Information Services (GIS) issued a Press statement on behalf of the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs, the three were "former" Immigration Officers who chose to "occupy" Immigration desks at the airport.

The Royal Gazette understands that the three - Keva Douglas, Jennifer Lightbourn and Gloria Bean - found themselves on the wrong side of their Department head Dr. Martin Brewer over the department's restructuring, and were arrested for trespassing after Dr. Brewer informed the airport authorities that they were no longer employed by the department and had no business being on the airport premises.

A court date has been set for next month and representing the three is Government backbencher Arthur Hodgson.

"One of them is my constituent so I have a dual interest," Mr. Hodgson said.

"It seems Government dismissed them without cause and without even informing them... Based on my initial information it does not appear to be an intractable dispute."

Mr. Hodgson said he found the whole episode quite bizarre. "I have never heard of such a thing - two critical departments who should be acting together are acting against each other."

He added : "I have heard of strange things happening in Bermuda. But I have never heard of such a thing before."

Yesterday arriving passengers had their frontline Immigration inspection handled by Customs officers - shadowed by their Immigration department counterparts - as part of a radical restructuring of the Immigration Department.

According to the GIS statement, the decision to restructure the Department and have Customs take over the primary processing of passengers was taken in February, 2001, as a cost cutting measure and to increase the department's enforcement capacity.

After lengthy discussions and delays to discuss Immigration officers' concerns, the department offered the Immigration officers the choices of transferring to the customs department or to another Government Department, or resigning from public service altogether.

Five of the seventeen affected were promoted within the department, and the rest, except the three arrested yesterday, agreed to be transferred - five to the Customs department.

Salaries and benefits were not affected, according to the statement.

Mr. Hodgson says that his clients were deprived of certain contractual rights.

"In terms of their contractual rights there are certain options they were entitled to and were not given."

He confirmed that the dispute had to do with the restructuring but said that the three had not been told they should not show up for work. "They appeared for work as they would have been expected to," said Mr. Hodgson.

And, while he was still gathering the facts, he was hopeful that Home Affairs Minister Terry Lister will come up with a resolution.

"They have a very competent Minister and I am sure he will find a solution."

Acting Collector of Customs Larry Conn told The Royal Gazette that his officers were quite happy with the changes.

Six Customs officers had been trained to perform "primary" immigration functions in training sessions over the last few weeks.

"It went smoothly with no problems and we had significant support from the senior immigration officers stationed at the airport," he said.

"Passengers' primary questioning is now being performed by a Customs officer - with referrals for a more detailed interview going to a senior officer - the objective being to economise the need for officers at the airport."

In the near future additional Immigration posts will be taken over by the customs department, Mr. Conn said.

"I think in general they are enthusiastic about the variety added to their workload. That's the impression I get," he added when asked how his officers were responding to the added responsibility.

"The objective is to streamline the inspection service as a whole and achieve a more seamless movement of passengers to the airport."

The move expands the capacity of the Immigration department's capacity and among other benefits improves its ability to enforce work permit rules, chase down marriages of convenience and other infractions.

"The Department of Immigration still has responsibility for the primary function and we have hired more senior immigration officers," said Dr. Brewer. "And they form part of a new section in the department which includes the Inspectorate - and they will rotate between headquarters and the ports when needed."

Dr. Brewer explained that senior immigration officers are now also inspectors and that the department has hired five new Immigration officers/inspectors, bringing the total up to ten and two new posts of principal compliance officers have been created, as well as a compliance manager. Compliance officers also have responsibility for internal compliance to make sure the department itself is adhering to established procedures and policy.

He did not speak to the dispute with the three arrested officers. Their case will be heard in court next month.

Ed Ball, the General Secretary of the Bermuda Public Services Association said that the union was not aware that the three were going to report to work at the Immigration Department. "They were not supposed to report to work at the airport," he told The Royal Gazette. He said the union was engaged in ongoing discussions involving six officers - the three included - who had concerns about being transferred into Customs.

"These discussions as far as I know have not broken down."