Immigration to conclude upgrade of border control systems

Belize is moving to modernize its immigration and border management infrastructure with the upgrading of the Migration Information and Data Analysis System (MIDAS) across all nine ports of entry nationwide.  The upgrade has been made possible through the donation of new equipment and software from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), strengthening Belize’s capacity to manage migration flows and border data in line with international standards.  Speaking on the initiative, Lawrence Thompson, Director of Border Management and Immigration Services, explained that the upgrades represent a major step forward in the modernization of the department’s information technology systems. Thompson said the improved MIDAS platform will allow for more expansive collection and filtering of immigration data, enhancing both efficiency and service delivery at each border point.

Lawrence Thompson, Director of Border Management and Immigration Services: “It is geared towards enhancing border security and border controls. It will allow for a fully national integration of our MIDAS system from north to south, where officers will have complete access of our national system for them to be able to monitor migration, to identify risk, to ensure that legitimate travelers are processed efficiently while at the same time balance, have a certain balance of compliance with immigration laws. Overall, this investment or this donation in investment in MIDAS and in the immigration ministry supports the Ministry National objective of modernizing immigration services, of improving the border security and contributing to the border security agenda of the country and also to establish a more responsive digitally enabled border system and immigration system. And which ultimately then just ties into strengthening of our borders and contributing to the national security and economic development of Belize.”

Director Thompson noted that with the enhanced MIDAS system in place, immigration officers will be better equipped to process travelers, analyze trends, and respond more effectively to operational demands at air, land, and seaports.  He added that the identification of red flags or security concerns would be better integrated into the system.

Lawrence Thompson, Director of Border Management and Immigration Services:“The enhancement or the upgrade basically gives us additional capabilities to apply risk management, to ensure that we have the data collected in a manner where it can be extracted for data analytics which is the important part because analyzing data is how we will get information and look for patterns and trends and so then we can develop policies based on these patterns and trends and identify enforcement strategies for our border controls when we see these enforcement, these are MIDAS travel patterns and so on. So while we have MIDAS at the moment, I would not say that it is,  it has been serving its purpose. The upgrade enhances that purpose and gives us that added capability, as I mentioned. It will also provide for a platform for us to add other features to MIDAS such as to integrate fully the advanced passenger information system, to have other integration with other networks, other systems so that we could feed not only nationally but also regionally and internationally with our partners to share information on high-risk travelers so that we can identify any potential national security concerns or threats even before they land at our ports.”

Director Thompson also emphasized that the upgraded system includes strengthened safeguards designed to protect the integrity of the immigration network and prevent unauthorized access or data breaches.

Lawrence Thompson, Director of Border Management and Immigration Services: “With any technological advancement or upgrades, there has to be some consideration for security and so that is a big priority for us. And so we have our IT team, very a team of competent IT personnel, whose task is to  just that, to ensure that our system has a level of integrity that is robust and our firewalls are in place to guard against any potential threat to infiltration in our system. We take travel data very seriously and our, so data security is one of our primary concern. And we put emphasis, tremendous emphasis on ensuring that the level of security that it is embedded within our border system is robust enough to protect and guard against any possible infiltration.”

The MIDAS upgrade forms part of ongoing collaboration between Belize and IOM aimed at improving border governance, strengthening national security, and ensuring more reliable and secure migration management systems across the country.  The upgrades are scheduled to be concluded by the end of January 2026.