By Lesroy W. Williams Observer Reporter
” (Basseterre, St. Kitts) – There has been much debate in recent years about those booted from lands of opportunity back into the Caribbean and their contribution to the upsurge in criminal activities within the region. Opinions have differed as to whether deportees are significant players in the crime surge or whether it is more myth than reality. Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of American States, Ambassador Albert R. Ramdin, thinks that deportees to the Caribbean contribute minimally to serious crimes. Ambassador Ramdin’s comments were made in an exclusive interview with the St. Kitts-Nevis Observer, while he was visiting the Federation on the nation’s 25th anniversary of Independence. Tuesday Online Code for Issue # 727 is WOR “The majority of deportees are not hardened criminals. Most of them were deported for breaching immigration laws and other minor offences,” Ambassador Ramdin said. However, he pointed out that deportees who are hardened criminals can have an enormous impact on the crime situation in a country, especially in the area of narcotics and homicides, because of their knowledge of weaponry, gang networks, and criminal operations, which include illegal drug-trafficking, organized crime and trans-national youth gangs. Local police are not well equipped to deal with these hard-core criminal deportees, he said. Ambassador Ramdin strongly thinks that there should be a joint effort between the deporting country and the receiving country with respect to the re-socialization of deportees into society. “It is not only about dropping them off and that’s it, but providing assistance of how to deal with them and providing more information about who they are,” Ambassador Ramdin said. At the recently concluded 63rd General Assembly at the United Nations in New York, Caribbean leaders met with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to address the issue of security. The meeting took place on Sept. 25. A press release from the Communications Office of the St. Kitts/Nevis Government stated that there are many burning and unresolved issues in the area of security that continue to bedevil all other aspects and avenues of the relationship between CARICOM and the USA. Not least among these is the need to establish mutually acceptable mechanisms and protocols in dealing with the deportee issue. “It is regrettable, (I must give you the statistics) that in Jamaica for instance, in five years time, the number of youth gangs increased from 35 to 80. That’s not good,” Ambassador Ramdin said. Bernard Headley is the Professor of Criminology at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica. He has challenged the long-held and intensely popular view that deportees are largely responsible for the violent criminality that has engulfed Jamaica. All convicted deportees are subject to the risk assessment policies of the United States before being released into society, he said. In his book, “Deported: Entry and Exit Findings of Jamaicans Returned from the U.S. between 1997 and 2003″, Headley asserts that the deportation process practiced by the American authorities is draconian, lacking in sympathy and discretion, in dealing with exceptional cases. He said that some people are deported for minor offences such as shoplifting, drunken driving, and unpaid traffic fines. He said such offences should not warrant deportation.” Headley points out in his book that one of the major problems of those deported is sociological. Some of those deported have no roots back in their lands of birth because they left with their parents when they were mere children, he said.” They were uprooted and unsettled, he added. What will their future be? How many are without family or close friends? How many become part of a criminal underground out of desperation? These are all questions posed by Mr. Headley. One deportee who has roots and wide connections or an active record of felonious crimes, particularly narcotics and homicide, can destabilize a community, Mr. Headley said. Many of these deportees, back into the Jamaican society, were home-grown criminals before going abroad with well established criminal networks in Jamaica, Mr. Headley said. Upon deportation from the USA, Canada or England, they continue their criminal activities, he said. Here in St. Kitts and Nevis, the nation has had its fair share of deportees returning to the Federation. Information from the Criminal Investigation Department of the St .Kitts and Nevis Police states that in 2006, there were 26 deportees. Eight were deported for drugs; nine for immigration breaches; two for robbery; two for firearms; one for aggravated assault; and three for larceny. In 2007, there were 21 deportees. Eleven were deported for immigration breaches; five for drug offences; one for domestic violence; one for murder; one for money laundering; one for aggravated assault; and one for attempted sexual battery. So far for 2008, there have been eight deportees. Two were deported for domestic violence; four for drugs; and two for immigration breaches. Most of those deported were for immigration breaches. The majority of deportees go on to lead productive lives, Public Relations Officer for the St. Kitts and Nevis Police Force, Inspector Cromwell Henry, said. Some are repeat offenders, he added. He did point out r that there is a risk that the more knowledgeable ones in the art and craft of weaponry, drug trafficking and gangs can corrupt others with their knowledge. Mr. Headley’s book has exploded myths and provided sound reasoning that the fearful profile of the deportee, therefore, under analysis, holds only for the few, not the many.
