U.S. marshals fly out mystery deportee
AFTER almost a year as a `guest' of the Police at the Brickdam station in Georgetown, a deportee claiming he is an American and calling himself Edgar Garfield Gibbons was last night whisked back to the U.S. under escort. He was to have left on a North American flight to New York Thursday night but the airline said the aircraft developed mechanical problems and turned back after leaving New York and the deportee had an extra day in Georgetown. U.S. immigration last year tagged the man calling himself Gibbons as a Guyanese and flew him here as a deportee after he had served time in jail for a drugs offence. But Gibbons late last year gained media attention by claiming he was American-born and wanted to go back home. He was smiling as two local cops escorted him into the Cheddi Jagan International Airport at Timehri just after 16:00 hrs (4 p.m.) yesterday. He smiled broadly and gave a `high five' (victory) sign to a Chronicle photographer who briefly saw him as he was whisked into the airport. About five hours later, the man calling himself Gibbons was aboard the North American passenger jet heading for New York and back to the Texas detention centre from whence he first journeyed to Guyana. It was not known if he was smiling when three U.S. marshals took custody of him from Guyanese Police on board the jet but the Chronicle understands he was soon handcuffed for the some five-hour flight to New York. Neither the Police nor the U.S. Embassy here would confirm yesterday that the deportee was on his way back to the U.S. But at around 21:30 hrs (9:30 p.m.), after the North American airline flight left the Cheddi Jagan airport, the U.S. Embassy, in a short statement announced: "He departed Guyana today en route to New York." Still declining to address the deportee as Gibbons, the embassy referred to him as "the gentleman residing at Brickdam" and said it had "no new information regarding the identity of this individual." "As earlier stated, the embassy's consular officer denied his request for documentation as a U.S. citizen because his claimed date and place of birth in the United States could not be verified", the statement said. It said that although the deportee has not been documented as a U.S. citizen, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalisation Service "has authorised his return to the United States pending final determination of his true identity and nationality." Sources told the Chronicle that Gibbons will be taken to New York and then back to the Texas Department of Corrections until his matter is determined. Gibbons was identified as a Guyanese by U.S. immigration and other authorities and deported here after serving a jail term for marijuana possession. He had also been to jail on a cocaine charge in the past. However, he has been unable to prove he is an American. He claimed he was born in Louisiana on November 9, 1958. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the international police organisation (Interpol) were called in to try to establish his identity. Home Affairs Minister, Mr Ronald Gajraj had warned airlines that the government will reserve the right to reject passengers who arrive here without proper travel documents and they will be responsible for their repatriation. He said there is a record of a Guyanese with the same name leaving Guyana in 1978 for the U.S. but his particulars do not match those of the Gibbons who was deported here. Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon said that Guyana was a victim of a deportee hoax in the continuing saga of the man the U.S. immigration officials shipped here. He recently told reporters that the government's position is that Gibbons is not a Guyanese and it is clear that Guyana was the victim of (an) incorrect or inaccurate or an out and out hoax. The U.S Embassy said a thorough check of U.S. records failed to substantiate the applicant's claims to citizenship by virtue of birth in Louisiana. "We are able to determine that the gentleman residing in Brickdam was not born when and where he said he was born. He was never enrolled in the Houston, Texas, schools he claims to have attended," the embassy said. The mission had reported that its consular staff had been closely working with the United States Immigration and Naturalisation Service and the Government of Guyana to establish the credibility of the claim to U.S. citizenship of Gibbons. Luncheon said it was unfortunate that it was discovered that Gibbons was not a Guyanese after he had arrived here and it would seem that his stay in Guyana would have had to be accepted until the matter was resolved. Gibbons told the Chronicle he moved from Louisiana to Houston, Texas to the "third or fourth" ward (a ghetto) when he was about two or two-and-a-half years old. He contended that Louisiana is one of the more backward states in the U.S. and in 1958 - the year he said he was born - the situation was "one thousand times worse" and that's why no record of his birth could be found.
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