— President Granger

THE ministries of Citizenship and Foreign Affairs, with help from the Guyana Police Force, will be looking into the recent deportation from the USA of 20 Guyanese who had served time in prison for a range of criminal offences.

This is because the APNU+AFC Administration does not want anyone to become a destitute. According to President David Granger in his latest weekly television programme The Public Interest: “We want to make sure they are reintegrated into society, so they can live useful lives.”

Government does not have a department that looks after deportees, thus they are dealt with on an individual basis.

“Some deportees have relatives, and they could be reintegrated into their communities and families. They may have committed some immigration breach, some might have been involved in criminal activities, so it’s a case-by-case basis,” he said.

In the absence of an overall plan, the Ministry of Citizenship would ensure that each deportee is interviewed and the circumstance which led to their deportation addressed.

“We must not conclude that all deportees are ruthless criminals and that they don’t have relatives here. Most of them are from the US, but deportees also come from Trinidad (and) Canada. So it’s a case-by-case basis, it’s not ‘one size fits all’,” the President emphasised.

Returning on a chartered flight to Guyana, the deportees were handed over to Guyanese immigration authorities by US law enforcement officers. Guyana Chronicle was told that the men had served time in US prisons for offences such as rape, murder, possession of firearms, fraud, drug trafficking and robbery.