Sixty-two deportees of the 112 listed to be returned from the US have so far been transported back here, Home Affairs Minister, Ronald Gajraj disclosed yesterday..

"The Government of Guyana would not abdicate its responsibility towards the citizens, whether they be criminals in other countries or otherwise," the minister told a press conference he hosted at his ministry. "We have certain obligations and we are prepared to discharge those obligations with respect to every Guyanese citizen, whether at home or abroad."

The minister pointed out that deportees were citizens just as other Guyanese and as long as their nationality was confirmed they would be treated like any other Guyanese.

He noted that some of the deportees left Guyana during their infancy and now did not know anything about the country. Some would find themselves here without any relatives in the country.

Gajraj said there were some among the current batch of deportees who were not criminals. These were the ones who were found in breach of immigration laws, he said.

"But they are classified as deportees and the stigma is attached to them," he stated. "By no stretch of imagination could you consider them criminals."

He acknowledged there were some in the lot who were hardened criminals. He added there was no legal basis for the local authorities to keep them in custody in Guyana because they had not committed any crime here.

The question remained of how the deportees would fit into the Guyana society having become the product of another environment.

The minister said the deportees could be classified into three categories: (a) Those who have relatives in Guyana who accept them and are eventually reintegrated into society; (b) Those who came but left the country through their own means and somehow returned to the country from which they were deported; (c) Those who had no friends or relatives to turn to and eventually link up with local criminals.

The immigration and criminal investigation branches of the Guyana Police Force had processed the deportees and the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security was to get involved, he said.

When questioned why the deportees had to be fingerprinted, the minister said there were different modes of identification of persons in the event that they had to be tracked down for any reason. He said fingerprinting was one of them and the Prevention of Crimes Act had provisions for a legal basis to do this. The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act also provides for this for persons who commit crimes in or out of Guyana, he said.