Guyana drops in U.S. deportees list
From Vishnu Bisram
NEW YORK -- For the first time in years, Guyana is not ranked high among countries receiving large numbers of deportees from the U.S. Four Caribbean countries are among the top 20 in the list of receiving nations for deportees from the U.S. for the fiscal year 1999 (October 1, 1998 to September 30, 1999), according to figures from the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Jamaica is ranked seventh while Trinidad and Tobago is ranked 20th. The Dominican Republic is fifth and Haiti 14th. Guyana, which was among the top 20 for several years, is now ranked well below major Caribbean countries, receiving only 287 deportees for the year. For the period, Jamaica received 1,984 deportees, Trinidad and Tobago 304, the Dominican Republic 3,115 and Haiti 431. As in previous years, Mexico tops the list with 147,336 removals from the U.S. or 83 per cent of the total. The INS also reported a rise in the number of immigrants deported from the U.S. to almost all countries. It noted that 176,990 immigrants were removed from the country for the year 1999, compared with 166,000 for the corresponding period last year. The agency also noted that the number of deportees to Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago had been steadily climbing over the years, registering an increase in each quarter of this year and for the whole year over last year. The INS breaks down the total removals into criminal and non-criminal. Criminal removal means the alien committed some kind of crime in the U.S. and was convicted, served time and deported. Non-criminal removal means violation of immigration laws such as overstaying a visa and deported or arrested at the border and deported. The INS said criminal removals for 1999 reached 62,359 while non-criminal removals were 114,631. For Trinidad and Tobago, there were 210 criminal and 148 non-criminal removals and Jamaica recorded 1,342 criminal and 642 non-criminal removals. For Guyana, criminal deportees were more than non-criminals. According to the agency, about 47 per cent of the criminal alien removals resulted from convictions involving illegal drugs, about the same for Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. Conviction from drug trafficking leads to immediate deportation and most Caribbean deportees, including Guyanese, fall under this category. Another 13 per cent of the 1999 deportees resulted from criminal violation of immigration laws, about the same for Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana. The INS said the increase in criminal removals was due in part to a significant gain in removals through the Institutional Removal Program (IRP) which became law in 1996. The U.S Congress established this expedited removal process that year to remove certain inadmissible aliens from the U.S. Expedited removal procedures are currently used only at land and airports of entry. According to this programme, state and local governments are mandated to report any immigrant held in detention anywhere in the U.S. Once the immigrant completes his or her sentence, the INS puts him or her in a holding centre pending removal from the U.S. Removals through this scheme which identifies and obtains removal orders on aliens (permanent residents or illegal) serving criminal sentences in prison, were up 36 per cent. Most of the deportees to Guyana and the Caribbean come from the states of New York, New Jersey and Florida.
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