…efforts underway to help them resettle

GOVERNMENT has signaled its intention to work with private organisations to assist deportees/involuntary re-migrants settle in Guyana.

This decision follows a projected increase in the number of deportees to Guyana from the United States of America (US) due to the tightening of US immigration policies by President Donald Trump.

Minister of Citizenship, Winston Felix, when questioned by members of the media Wednesday indicated that a “new situation” is developing around the world and the government needs to effectively manage the situation in the event that there is an influx of deportees.

Speaking specifically about the US, the Minister said, “we have no control over those who are deported, whenever they feel like they can deport persons who are noncompliant with their immigration laws…sometimes we get deportees five times a year.”

However, according to Felix, there are regulations that need to be followed before deportation. He said local immigration officers get the names, do checks and query whether the potential deportee is a citizen of Guyana and if it is confirmed then the person is deported.

For instance, in December, 2016, a total of 20 Guyanese returned after being deported by the US Government following various periods of incarceration for a range of criminal offences. The men, who returned on a chartered flight, were handed over to Guyanese immigration authorities by US law enforcement officers. Guyana Chronicle was told that the men served time in US prisons for offences such as rape, murder, possession of firearms, fraud, drug trafficking and robbery.

The development of measures and strategies to deal with deportees are still in its initial stage but Minister Felix confirmed on Wednesday that there are “private initiatives” being taken to assist involuntary re-migrants in the best possible way.

The Minister said that he recently met with a group which has an interest in assisting deportees and discussed ways in which the Government can work with the group to provide assistance to not only deportees, but persons who were barred from entering Caribbean Islands and sent back to Guyana.

According to Felix, these persons return more frequently than those from the US, given that the Ministry has been recording large numbers “every week,” as it relates to deportation from Caribbean countries.

Meanwhile, President David Granger had said that Guyana does not have the capability to handle deportees from the US. He had told journalists during a ‘The Public Interest’ programme that his government needs to work with the US to ensure that measures are put in place to make Guyana better prepared to handle those who are deported, especially if they are convicted of crimes in the US.

“We just want to be better prepared, it’s something that the Ministry of Public Security is aware of and we will have to make sure that we put measures in place to ensure that those persons, those deportees do not perpetuate crimes when they get back here,” the Head of State had said.