Gibbons could be detained indefinitely--Principe --listed as Jamaican for transport out of Guyana Stabroek News March 5, 2000 Edgar Garfield Gibbons could be detained indefinitely while the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) tries to determine his nationality and true identity, US Consul, Vincent Principe, said. However, the document issued by the US embassy to North American Airlines (NAA), Stabroek News understands, listed him as a Jamaican. Gibbons, escorted by two INS officers one of whom was from the INS Houston office, was returned to the US last evening on a NAA flight which left here around 9:16 pm on Friday for New York en route to Houston, Texas. He was to have left earlier in the day but the flight had to be rescheduled. Principe also told Stabroek News that Gibbons could face a number of criminal charges, which would flow from his making a false claim to American citizenship and lying to federal officers, as a result of his not being American or Guyanese. However, he said, whether he is prosecuted or not would be at the discretion of the US Attorney and the INS. Commenting on Gibbons' prospects when he lands in the US, Principe said that he would be held under the same law as before April 28, last year when he was deported in error to Guyana. "I don't know how long he could be held for but if he is neither a US citizen or resident, it could be for a very long time." But Principe said he was sure that the INS was close to determining his identity and refused to comment on whether or not the search by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and Interpol had uncovered some of Gibbons' relatives. The INS had sought the assistance of the FBI and Interpol in its efforts to determine Gibbons' nationality and real identity. The INS has supplied both organisations with a set of fingerprints taken while Gibbons was in Guyana about six weeks ago. Gibbons, in one of his discussions with Stabroek News had provided information on the landlord of his residence before he was imprisoned. Calls to this apartment complex resulted in a conversation with a gentleman with a strong Jamaican accent, once he discovered he was speaking with a "brother". The gentleman who gave his name to Stabroek News said that he did not know whether or not Gibbons was American but always assumed that he was Jamaican. The mother of Gibbons' last child, Denita Turner, said that she thought Gibbons was from "Utopia [Ethiopia]." Principe, in answer to another query, explained that it would be easy for a person who had acquired the identity of another person by whatever means to remain undetected if the person lived a very low-key life and does not get into trouble. In relation to Gibbons, Principe said that he was no pillar of the community but had left no paper trail. He said that even though he got into trouble with the police, there was nothing to raise any doubts about his identity. Principe noted too that because there was no requirement in 1978 for immigrants to supply a complete set of fingerprints, there was nothing to raise any flags. "The system knows individuals by data not faces." He noted too that the Guyanese Gibbons who had migrated to the US in 1978 and with whom the deported man was confused by the INS, also lived a very quiet life and had not got into any trouble with the police. The Guyanese Gibbons has been living in the New York Tri-State area. Principe said too that if Gibbons' acquaintances were not willing to cooperate and help the authorities, this would add to the difficulty in ascertaining his nationality and true identity. Home Affairs Minister, Ronald Gajraj, had told Stabroek News that he had authorised his removal from Brickdam to the CID headquarters prior to his departure for the airport. He had been held at the CID headquarters under guard until he was moved back to the airport where he waited about four hours before he was escorted to the plane by three officers from the Narcotics branch of the CID and handed over to the INS escort. Gibbons was deported to Guyana in April 1999 after serving a one-year sentence for marijuana possession. While in prison, the INS initiated arrangements to deport him to Guyana even though he protested that he was not Guyanese. Gibbons had told Stabroek News that in time he had come to accept that the INS would not believe that he was American and decided to "kick back" knowing that they would soon realise their mistake. He said that when he arrived here he also protested that he was not Guyanese. Police Commissioner, Laurie Lewis, had stated that police investigations had determined that Gibbons was not a Guyanese and the relevant authorities had been notified. Gibbons's presence in Guyana was taken up by the media in January and the US embassy denied knowing that he was here. Gibbons said otherwise and described an encounter with a US embassy official who had visited the Brickdam Police Station as typical of the behaviour of the INS officers in Houston, Texas that led to his deportation. During late January, he went to the Embassy where he was interviewed by Principe and one of the officers who had escorted him to Guyana. However, a statement was issued shortly after by the US embassy that the details of his birth and death of his father, which Gibbons had supplied under oath could not be verified. Gibbons said that he had been born in Monroe, Louisiana, and that his father, Byfield, had died in Vietnam.