Soca Warriors Online Discussion Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Flex on December 28, 2006, 08:16:26 AM
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1,593 deportees let loose.
By: Francis Joseph (Newsday).
Within the past seven years, 1,593 Trinidad and Tobago nationals were deported from the United States after committing violent crimes such as unlawful killing, kidnapping, robbery, grand larceny and fraud.
And these persons, some of whom have served time in America’s largest and most violent prisons, are walking free on the streets of TT.
The TT nationals were among 36,000 criminals deported to the Caribbean as the United States tries to get rid of unwanted elements in certain high-risk cities of that country, the Department of Homeland Security revealed yesterday.
The US is also trying to weed out persons who may be inclined to commit terrorist acts after September 11, 2001.
The deportees, according to local police officials, are being blamed for the upsurge in criminal activity over the last five years in Trinidad. Police believe that the deportees are responsible for the increase in murders, gangland type crimes, kidnapping, and robbery associated with violence.
The TT nationals were described as non-US citizens who committed crimes while living illegally in the United States or as greencard holders. They travelled to the US and were allowed to stay for short periods ranging from three to six months. But they filtered into the black communities in certain cities and stayed illegally, only to be caught up in criminal activitity.
But not all convicted TT nationals have been deported. Keith Andre Glaude was jailed for two years in 2002 for his role in attempting to export guns to Trinidad in 2001. For his decision to testify in a Fort Lauderdale Court against top ranking Jamaat-al-Muslimeen member Lance Small in 2005, Glaude was allowed to remain in the US.
Another Trinidadian who gave evidence at the same trial, was also convicted in the US, deported, but sneaked back in at a later stage. He too, was allowed to stay in the US as a result of his testimony against Small.
But senior local police sources admitted that while the names of the deportees are told to them by the US, there is no monitoring system in Trinidad and Tobago to keep an eye on these nationals.
As a result, they just filter back into the TT system, enhance criminal activity by “teaching” the locals how crimes should be committed and “boldfacedly” commit daylight crimes, ignorant to the presence of police, army patrols and skyships.
A senior police officer said it was only when deportees were returning to “paradise” that kidnappings surged. He felt that Government should consider using an electronic monitor on these deportees for a certain period after their arrival so the local authorities would be able to find them.
Efforts to reach Commissioner of Police Trevor Paul for comment yesterday proved futile while National Security Minister Martin Joseph promised to release a statement to Newsday “soon.”
The Spanish-speaking nation of the Dominican Republic, located next to Haiti on the island of Hispaniola, topped the Caribbean deportee scale with a whopping 17,527 or almost half the number of deportees sent back during the seven-year stretch.
Jamaica, which according to a recent report tabled in that country’s parliament by the island’s Minister of National Security is facing a significant rise in horrendous violent crime because of deportees, was second.
They received a massive 11,455 criminal aliens since 1998, or almost one third of the deportees. The largest number was sent back in 2004; a whopping 1,648.
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GASH dem and LIGHT them
ooh oh LORD
a di living once more fur meh country
they really don't know
cyaah cool enuh cyaah watah dung enuh
naah compromise nuh time enuh
verse:1
big man like …them….
kidnapping little people
all them man like he drives meh crazy
mess up all the island money
a big crime like that
hiding and doing things to make yuh mad sick and crazy
but when everyone hol yuh
nuh if nor nuh but nuh badda tell almighty bout maybe
chorus:
gash dem and light dem
for all the negative vibes weh dem a bring
gash dem and light dem
mi come fi mash up and wreck up dem senseless actions
gash dem and light dem
bwoie affi reverse wid dem bag a gun ting
gash dem and light dem
stand guard and come out a di wages of sin
verse:2
yuh love yuh life si dung and pawk it
and stop carry watah inna baaskit
suh mi affi draw fi all di MOSES law
eye fi a eye a dat nuff a onuh waah
onuh a push it till blood stawt draw
all di wrongs bwoie yuh have to pay fah
chorus:
gash dem and light dem
for all the negative vibes weh dem a bring
gash dem and light dem
mi come fi mash up and wreck up dem senseless actions
gash dem and light dem
bwoie affi reverse wid dem
gash dem and light dem
stand guard and come out a di wages of sin
verse:3
dunce bat yuh nuh si seh yuh nuh smawt
come a tell mi seh yuh don't have nuh hawt
a long time wi a preach and a talk
and a tell yuh gi di politics a walk
but yuh a tell mi yuh nuh fraid fi pop it off
caah yuh love hear di big dog a bawk
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Within the past seven years, 1,593 Trinidad and Tobago nationals were deported from the United States after committing violent crimes such as unlawful killing, kidnapping, robbery, grand larceny and fraud.
they sure all ah them commit violent acts??
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Ah tired ah hearing people blaming goverbnment fuh everything wrong under the sun; it eh like the previous government did any better; it doh make it easy when the previous government leader declares that his platform is based on'race' it doh make it easy when ah man says he go sleep with the devil tuh get power. Could there be other factors that contribute to the rise in crime?
By Yvonne Baboolal
Between 1998 and 2005, 2,655 deportees from the United States have played a part in escalating crime and increased homelessness in T&T.
This finding was revealed by Repatriate & Relief International Inc, a US-based non-profit organisation that assists immigrant populations around the world.
The group, which has links with the local chapter of Prison Ministries International, an inter-faith organisation, made the disclosure in a proposal submitted to the Government for a deportee re-integration and family support programme.
The group predicts that the wave of deportation will increase, as will the attendant problems, and noted that between 1998 and 2005, some 53,464 deportees were absorbed by leading Caribbean countries:
* Dominican Republic 26,509
* Jamaica 16,085
* T&T 2,655
* Guyana 2,283
* Barbados 589
Progressive increase
Tracing the beginning of the US wave of deportation from the 1996 passage of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act by the US Congress, the group pointed to a a reclassification of former misdemeanours, which have now become deportable offences, and consequently, a dramatic increase in the deportation of both illegal and legal US residents.
The group said in 1994, the total deportations by the US Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) was only 45,364, but by 1997, the INS, for the first time, deported more than 100,000 “aliens.”
“The trend increased four-fold in 2000 with the number of deportees amounting to 184,000,” said the group, with a large number of these deportees coming from Mexico and Central and South America.
The group said deportees had played a part in increased crime and homelessness in T&T, and felt that a transition programme to integrate deportees into the society would benefit T&T.
“The vast majority of individuals deported to T&T are totally unprepared to re-integrate into their native society,” the proposal said.
“Many of them migrated from T&T during infancy and no longer have social, cultural or economic ties to the country.
“They have become foreigners to their own country.
“The result has been increased homelessness and crime in the receiving country, as some deportees resort to crime and other illegal activities as a means of survival.”
The proposal noted that the prospect of a life separated from wives, husbands, children and family often resulted in a depressed and angry individual returning to the shores of his birth.
The group also claimed that one of the results of increased deportation was the formation of an international crime network.
Some proposals
* The T&T Deportee Re-integration and Family Support Programme will provide pre- and post-deportation counselling
* Assistance to families of deportees left behind
* Temporary housing assistance for returning deportees
* Education and job-training
* Temporary and permanent employment
Repatriate & Relief Inc has presented its proposal to the governments of Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts & Nevis and Grenada.
The T&T deportee programme is planned as a pilot one and, if successful, will be used as a model in other countries.
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I'd love to see the figures of how many illegals from Eastern Europe and Asia were deported during the same time period :-X
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Jamaica Again Tops U.S. Deportation List
By Felicia Persaud
Washington, April 1: Latest deportation figures out of the new U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services reveal that almost ten thousand immigrants, both legal and undocumented, were deported to the Caribbean in fiscal year 2002, up from over 7,000 in 2001.
For the English-speaking Caribbean, Jamaica once again receiving the highest number of deportees, with a whopping 2,122, up from 2,017 in 2001. The island was also again among the top countries globally to receive deportees. They were followed way behind by Trinidad and Tobago, which was forced to take back 314 of their nationals in 2002 while. Guyana received the third highest number, 222.
One hundred and ninety-three deportees were sent home to the Bahamas and 55 to St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Considering the land mass and population of these islands, the number is significant.
Fifty-one immigrants were sent home to Barbados and 36 to the tiny islands of Antigua and Barbuda. Thirty-four and thirty-one were deported back to St. Lucia and Dominica respectively while Grenada received 28 and St. Kitts, 23.
Other English-speaking Caribbean islands to receive deportees included the British Virgin Island with 14, Bermuda, 12, Turks & Caicos, 6, the Cayman Islands. 3, Aruba, 2 and the U.S. Virgin Islands, 1.
For the non-English speaking territories, the Dominican Republic topped the list with 3,225 followed closely by Cuba with 2,750 and Haiti with 1,058. Thirteen immigrants were sent back to the Netherland Antilles while Guadeloupe received 3 and Martinique and Puerto Rico, one each. The median age of the deported aliens was 28.
Most of the deportees were legal immigrants who had committed crimes and served their time in U.S. jails before being shipped back to their native land. Jamaica again topped the list for the English-speaking territories with 1,517, followed less closely by Guyana with 103 and Trinidad with 78. Deportation of criminal elements back into these countries has been blamed almost exclusively for the rising crime rates in those societies. Barbados and The Bahamas each received 27 and 23 criminal aliens, respectively.
For the non-English speaking territories, the Dominican Republic topped the list again with 784 criminal deportees followed by Cuba with 395 and Haiti with 219. All other Caribbean countries received less than 15, with Aruba, the Cayman Islands, Guadeloupe, Turks & Caicos and the U.S. Virgin Islands receiving only 1 each. The most common crime was drug-related.
Other deportees included those who had overstayed visitor's visas, those who had entered the U.S. without inspection or via the 'backtrack,' those who has been in-transit in the country without a visa and crewmen, temporary workers, students, stowaways and other non-immigrants.
Four-hundred and forty five visitors were deported back to Jamaica, the largest number for the entire region, both English and non-English speaking. The Dominican Republic followed with 162 and Trinidad, 151. All other countries received less than one hundred deportees with Bahamas and Haiti receiving the highest in this category: 89 and 78, respectively. Guyana followed with 51 and Cuba 38.
Over 3,000 Cubans and nationals of the Dominican Republic were sent back because of entering the U.S. without inspection or through the 'backtrack.' Six hundred and seventy eight Haitians were also deported because of committing this crime as well as 424 Jamaicans and only 56 Bahamians. Less than fifty from Guyana were returned followed by Trinidad with 38. All other countries received only a small number of deportees in this category.
Aliens who entered the U.S. as a crewman, student, temporary worker or stowaway, and were eventually deported, only accounted for a small percentage. The highest number for all categories were sent back to the Dominican Republic, followed by Jamaica. All other countries received next to none.
Immigration agents detained a total of 202,000 aliens from around the globe in the past fiscal year. Of that number, a whopping 103,000 had criminal records.
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Wayyy boy, big money passing just to have de Caribbean govts fight dey own battle.
Dollars for deportees
T&T, Caribbean govts get US help
Charles S Shapiro
Offenders
A recent Caricom study found almost 30,000 criminal offenders had been deported to Guyana, Jamaica, and T&T between 1990 and 2005.
More than 17,000 had been deported for drug offences; almost 1,800 for possession of illegal firearms, and more than 600 for murder.
The United States is to provide millions of dollars to Caribbean governments including T&T to help them reintegrate people deported from the US for criminal offences.
And Washington is to sign an agreement with the Caribbean, possibly within the next two months, to share information on the deportees and to set up social programmes for them in the region.
This was disclosed during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Tuesday during which Caribbean and Latin American government representatives testified about the impact the US criminal deportees programme was having on their societies.
Making the lead presentation for the Caribbean, Anne Marie Barnes, chief technical director in Jamaica’s National Security ministry, warned about the impact on security in the region.
“The mass deportation of criminal offenders to the Caribbean and Latin America constitutes one of the greatest threats to security in the region,” she said.
Ever since the US started the criminal deportees programme in 1997, Caribbean governments have been claiming that many of the deportees had no ties with their countries—having lived most of their lives in the US.
They have also been arguing that the deportees were contributing to a rise in crime in the region.
Barnes quoted from a recent Caricom study showing that “many deported persons continue to engage in crime subsequent to their deportation. For example, deported persons in T&T were over three times more likely to be arrested than the average for the general population.”
Also testifying before the sub-committee was Charles S Shapiro, principal deputy assistant secretary of the State Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. He disclosed that the Caribbean Community (Caricom) had requested assistance with resettlement and reintegration of deportees.
He said the bureau intended to use a pilot project in Haiti being run by the International Organisation for Migration as a model for reintegration in other Caricom countries in the future.
The programme provides deportee reintegration services, including counselling, vocational training, skills development and micro-credit lending,
“We are currently in discussions with Caricom members on the next steps and what adaptations may be needed to the model programme so that it is useful to other nations,” said Shapiro.
A recent Caricom study found that almost 30,000 criminal offenders had been deported to Guyana, Jamaica, and T&T between 1990 and 2005.
More than 17,000 had been deported for drug offences; almost 1,800 for possession of illegal firearms, and more than 600 for murder.
More than seventy-five per cent of all criminal deportations to the region are sent back from the US.
In his testimony, Gary Mead, assistant director for management, Office of Detention and Removal Operations of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement unit, revealed that at least 45 Jamaicans a month are sent back from the US, while 50 and 70, respectively, are returned every two weeks to Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
He said for fiscal 2006, 1,426 criminal migrants were deported to Jamaica while 2,805 were sent back to the DR.
The two countries have received the highest number of deportees from the US annually since the criminal deportation programme began.
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"They probably become technical advisers to other criminals ..."
Caribbean swamped with U.S. deportees
By Bert Wilkinson
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Jul 31 (IPS) - In 1999, a Jamaican convict was deported to Guyana from the U.S. State of Texas after assuming the identity of a Guyanese mechanic who had lost his residency card on the streets far away in New York months earlier.
But the fact that he had impersonated a Guyanese and ended up on a continent 1,000 miles from home was not the issue that angered Caribbean governments. Rather, it was that the U.S. Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) had exerted so much pressure on the Guyanese embassy that it finally issued James Dean Collins -- who claimed to be Edgar Garfield Gibbons of Guyana -- with travel papers that left him stranded in police detention for more than a year before his true identity was confirmed and marshals escorted him back to a U.S. jail.
Though the debacle has since subsided, governments point to that and other notorious cases as they plead with the George W. Bush administration to devise a better way to deal with the deportation of Caribbean nationals in the U.S.
"We want to know when they are coming, who they are and would like them to have access to financial and other resources before they are sent back destitute," said Caribbean trade bloc spokesman Leonard Robertson. "Our governments have been asking for this for years."
The issue of ad hoc deportation of Caribbean nationals from the U.S. has been on the front burner for both the Bush administration and regional governments in recent months.
Just last week, the Western Hemisphere subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives held special hearings on the deportation question following meetings between regional leaders and President Bush in Washington in late June. Chaired by New York Democrat Eliot Engels, the hearings were a direct result of the Jun. 20 summit on Capitol Hill.
Caribbean leaders pointed to a study by Jamaican academic Annmarie Barnes showing that three of the 15 Caricom nations -- Jamaica, Trinidad and Guyana -- had absorbed a staggering 30,000 deportees between 1990 and 2005.
The presence of returned killers, drug dealers, armed robbers and rapists, among others, has contributed significantly to rising crime in the Caribbean, forcing some governments to hire British law enforcement experts to help beat back the scourge, authorities say.
Of the 30,000, 17,000 have been convicted for drug trafficking, 600 for murder and 1,800 for illegal gun possession. "The United States is responsible for more than 75 percent of all criminal deportations to the region," according to Barnes' study.
However, not all deportees have committed violent, or even serious crimes.
The committee also heard testimony from rights groups and legislators like Charlie Rangel of New York, who was a special guest at the early July summit of Caribbean leaders in Barbados.
Calling on the U.S. to "have a heart", Alison Parker of Human Rights Watch deemed the U.S. policy of deporting aliens after serving time for felonies and even misdemeanors as being "far out of step" with international standards.
"Human rights law recognises that the privilege of living in any country as a non-citizen may be conditional upon obeying that country's laws. However, a country like the United States cannot withdraw that privilege without protecting the human rights of the immigrants it previously allowed to enter," she argued.
She wants Congress to reinstate rules allowing judges discretion in cases where crimes are minor and family connections strong.
"Families have been torn apart because of a single, even minor, misstep such as shoplifting or drug possession," Parker said.
Officials from all sides say that the hearings, the summit and other meetings with U.S. officials indicate that strides have been made in recent months to tackle what leaders say is one of the most vexing policy issues with the U.S.
Officials are considering replicating a deportee pilot programme now in place in Haiti, in which returnees are assisted financially with resettlement and helped to start micro-enterprises rather than falling under the sway of drug traffickers and other criminal gangs.
"They are looking to see if that can be applied in the region," said trade bloc spokesman Robertson.
In calculating the proportionate effect of deportation, Barnes reasoned that with a combined population of less than five million people in Guyana, Trinidad and Jamaica, the impact of "this relocation of criminal offenders would be roughly equivalent to the influx, into the United States, of more than one million convicted drug offenders, and close to 40,000 convicted murderers."
Trinidad Cabinet Minister Conrad Enill says better communication with U.S. authorities is key to a successful programme.
"What we ask is, if you're sending them back, we need to know beforehand so we could track them and know where they are. If deportees are coming, we need to be able to welcome them properly," he stressed.
Jamaican government spokesman Carlton Davis says there is little doubt deportees contribute to serious crime.
"When they come they are free, and a study shows that there is a strong correlation between deportation and violent crime. We need serious discussion as to the systems that enable us to manage this inflow of people who, I am told, have no family. They probably become 'technical advisers' (to other criminals). I am not saying that they are the cause of our problems, but it is a factor," he said.
Jamaica absorbed 530 convicted murderers in 2005 alone, a figure officials say is too much for any small country to bear. (IPS
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Wayyy boy, big money passing
But they didn't say exactly how much...or the currency.
Anyway working with them on this might end up being more valuable than cash to be honest.
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Deportee in battle with US Embassy
Yvonne Baboolal | 8:20 pm
Published: February 7th, 2009
Craig Cruickshank
Yvonne Baboolal | 8:20 pm
He stayed in houses where he had to pick which floorboard to walk on; reached on the brink of homelessness and starvation and developed diabetes. This has been the ordeal of 31-year-old Craig Cruickshank, since he was deported to Trinidad and Tobago eight years ago, at age 23.
Cruickshank, who told the Sunday Guardian, last Tuesday, that he was an “active Christian,” is claiming he was deported on trivial charges, which were later dropped in an American court. He claims he is entitled to return to the United States, where his “home, his life, his love” are, and has been on a determined drive to do so. “I was a one-year-old baby when my parents took me to Brooklyn, New York, to live. “Settling in T&T was a shock; I’ve never been able to adjust. “The social life, the mentality, the way the system operates...it’s something I can’t get accustomed to.” But attempts to return home are blocked by the US Embassy in Port-of-Spain, he claims.
Cruickshank said his ordeal began at age 19, while living with his parents and sister in Florida, to where they had moved. “My sister and I were having a normal sibling quarrel, and someone from the neighbourhood called the police. “The police tried to arrest me, but I said I wasn’t going anywhere.
“They arrested me for resisting arrest with violence and obstruction, and took me to the Broward County Jail. “Not knowing better, I took a no contest plea just to get out. This meant I pleaded guilty.
“I was put on probation and was later arrested for a non-violent violation and put in Dade County Jail in Miami. “While there, the probation officer recommended that I be imprisoned for the original charges of resisting arrest. “I was sentenced to 27 months at the South Florida Regional Centre.” Close to the end of his stay in prison, Cruickshank said he got a letter from the INS, stating that he was to be deported to T&T. “They had revamped the deportation act and could deport you for just about anything. “They will deport you even after you paid the time for the crime, no matter how small, if you did two years and more.”
Cruickshank said Florida judges kicked out against the harshness of the new deportation law, and advised that those who had opted to plead guilty, and and advised that those who had opted to plead guilty, and were not informed that deportation was one of the consequences, could apply for a rehearing. “While in prison, I wrote up my motion requesting the case be reopened, and for my plea to be changed to a not guilty one. “The following week, they moved me to another jail, way up north Pennsylvania, and a couple months after, on July 29, 2000, they deported me.” Cruickshank stayed with elderly grandmothers in Cocoyea and Palo Seco before moving out on his own. “The reception in T&T wasn’t good. I didn’t realise there was so much dislike here for deportees.
“I moved from one shack to another, and lived in places where I had to pick and choose which floorboards to step on. “I found out I had diabetes while doing a medical, which could be stress-related. I am now on insulin.” Cruickshank said he did a variety of jobs, including construction, sales, network marketing, commercial cleaning and security. On February 15, 2002, he won his motion for a rehearing in the Circuit Court of the 17th Judicial Court in Broward County. Judge Geoffrey D Cohen, in a letter on the same day, stated: “The defendant’s plea of no contest is vacated and a plea of not guilty is entered and the matter will be scheduled for trial by jury.” A US Immigration lawyer gave Cruickshank’s parents a directive to petition to have him returned to the US with his original status—legal permanent resident.
“By 2006, the petition had gone through all the checks, balances, filters and screens in the US, and the petition was sent to the US Embassy here for final screening,” Cruickshank related. He said, based on advice, he bought a ticket and boarded an aeroplane bound for Miami on December 18, last year, but was arrested and sent back to T&T. Last month, he applied to the embassy for a visa to leave the country. Phillip Beekman from the American Consular Office, in a letter to Cruickshank on January 7, told him he was found “ineligible” for a visa under the INS Act. Beekman cited “missing documents,” “moral turpitude” and “ordered deported twice” as reasons. “Why are they not allowing me to go back home. I aim to get answers from them,” Cruickshank vowed. “This is one case they know they messed up and they’re afraid of the consequences.”
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Deportee in battle with US Embassy
Yvonne Baboolal | 8:20 pm
Published: February 7th, 2009
Craig Cruickshank
Yvonne Baboolal | 8:20 pm
He stayed in houses where he had to pick which floorboard to walk on; reached on the brink of homelessness and starvation and developed diabetes. This has been the ordeal of 31-year-old Craig Cruickshank, since he was deported to Trinidad and Tobago eight years ago, at age 23.
Cruickshank, who told the Sunday Guardian, last Tuesday, that he was an “active Christian,” is claiming he was deported on trivial charges, which were later dropped in an American court. He claims he is entitled to return to the United States, where his “home, his life, his love” are, and has been on a determined drive to do so. “I was a one-year-old baby when my parents took me to Brooklyn, New York, to live. “Settling in T&T was a shock; I’ve never been able to adjust. “The social life, the mentality, the way the system operates...it’s something I can’t get accustomed to.” But attempts to return home are blocked by the US Embassy in Port-of-Spain, he claims.
Cruickshank said his ordeal began at age 19, while living with his parents and sister in Florida, to where they had moved. “My sister and I were having a normal sibling quarrel, and someone from the neighbourhood called the police. “The police tried to arrest me, but I said I wasn’t going anywhere.
“They arrested me for resisting arrest with violence and obstruction, and took me to the Broward County Jail. “Not knowing better, I took a no contest plea just to get out. This meant I pleaded guilty.
“I was put on probation and was later arrested for a non-violent violation and put in Dade County Jail in Miami. “While there, the probation officer recommended that I be imprisoned for the original charges of resisting arrest. “I was sentenced to 27 months at the South Florida Regional Centre.” Close to the end of his stay in prison, Cruickshank said he got a letter from the INS, stating that he was to be deported to T&T. “They had revamped the deportation act and could deport you for just about anything. “They will deport you even after you paid the time for the crime, no matter how small, if you did two years and more.”
Cruickshank said Florida judges kicked out against the harshness of the new deportation law, and advised that those who had opted to plead guilty, and and advised that those who had opted to plead guilty, and were not informed that deportation was one of the consequences, could apply for a rehearing. “While in prison, I wrote up my motion requesting the case be reopened, and for my plea to be changed to a not guilty one. “The following week, they moved me to another jail, way up north Pennsylvania, and a couple months after, on July 29, 2000, they deported me.” Cruickshank stayed with elderly grandmothers in Cocoyea and Palo Seco before moving out on his own. “The reception in T&T wasn’t good. I didn’t realise there was so much dislike here for deportees.
“I moved from one shack to another, and lived in places where I had to pick and choose which floorboards to step on. “I found out I had diabetes while doing a medical, which could be stress-related. I am now on insulin.” Cruickshank said he did a variety of jobs, including construction, sales, network marketing, commercial cleaning and security. On February 15, 2002, he won his motion for a rehearing in the Circuit Court of the 17th Judicial Court in Broward County. Judge Geoffrey D Cohen, in a letter on the same day, stated: “The defendant’s plea of no contest is vacated and a plea of not guilty is entered and the matter will be scheduled for trial by jury.” A US Immigration lawyer gave Cruickshank’s parents a directive to petition to have him returned to the US with his original status—legal permanent resident.
“By 2006, the petition had gone through all the checks, balances, filters and screens in the US, and the petition was sent to the US Embassy here for final screening,” Cruickshank related. He said, based on advice, he bought a ticket and boarded an aeroplane bound for Miami on December 18, last year, but was arrested and sent back to T&T. Last month, he applied to the embassy for a visa to leave the country. Phillip Beekman from the American Consular Office, in a letter to Cruickshank on January 7, told him he was found “ineligible” for a visa under the INS Act. Beekman cited “missing documents,” “moral turpitude” and “ordered deported twice” as reasons. “Why are they not allowing me to go back home. I aim to get answers from them,” Cruickshank vowed. “This is one case they know they messed up and they’re afraid of the consequences.”
That's real tough though. could you imagine growing up in ah country all yuh life and after 22 yrs getting deported to ah place yuh don't know @ all,after being there before yuh knew yuh self. stuueeepppss
i find that law most unusual and not to mention sadening, but that's just my opinion. i hope president Obama revisit that law and amend it.
to many hard working tax payers got deported for minor infringments, from taffic violations to domestic disputes.
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sometimes them domestic disputes does end up in murder.
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Now this is his story, i'm sure the Embassy has something different to say.
The brink of homelessness and starvation and developed diabetes <--------you think the Americanas want you back in dey land ??? How them know you ain't go try out for the trivial charges again.
Ya hadda full out ah 5 page folder from which hole you come out from, how much education ya have, how healthy ya is, financially able, no convictions before you could even reach inside to see ah immigration officer..
Ya get ah red X for at least 4 of dem questions....
No, people think they can go into another man's land and do dey same stupidness that dey will get away with in dey own homeland. US and Canada ain't Trinidad. Another reason why people does bawl when dey reach over here. Deport dey arse yes.
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a son of a friend of ours here got deported back to TnT, for maryjane pocession even though he had been here for many years but did not become a citizen....if only he had become a citizen eh
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When ya in another man's land, behave yaself and cross dey road properly. When dey Trinis reach in Canada, ent dey does cross with the green light flashing and know not to hail out taxi at dey side of dey road - or go on dey 401 selling alphagarts and kite ?? Strange me ain't hear bout no domestic violence issues in Canada. Allyuh fraid to hit oman ???
Some people have common sense, they know what they can and can't get away wid.
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When ya in another man's land, behave yaself and cross dey road properly. When dey Trinis reach in Canada, ent dey does cross with the green light flashing and know not to hail out taxi at dey side of dey road - or go on dey 401 selling alphagarts and kite ?? Strange me ain't hear bout no domestic violence issues in Canada. Allyuh fraid to hit oman ???
Some people have common sense, they know what they can and can't get away wid.
:rotfl: :rotfl:
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When ya in another man's land, behave yaself and cross dey road properly. When dey Trinis reach in Canada, ent dey does cross with the green light flashing and know not to hail out taxi at dey side of dey road - or go on dey 401 selling alphagarts and kite ?? Strange me ain't hear bout no domestic violence issues in Canada. Allyuh fraid to hit oman ???
Some people have common sense, they know what they can and can't get away wid.
Tigress these countries was build on the backs of immigrants, if yuh think westindians does violate their law then think again.
these russians , albanians, even ppl from the former Yugoslavia does come here and carry on way worst than caribbean ppl and nothing of the sort does happen to them.
but if ah caribbean legal immigrant only sneeze too hard in the U.S. these days , they want tuh lock yuh up and send yuh back down the road, they don't care if yuh have children or sick parents yuh caring for! ah mean it's ah real witch hunt!
i know it have bad fellas from the caribbean who does do all kinda madness in the ppl place , but to every law breaker it have ten law abiding, so why should the innocent pay for the guilty.
my great aunt always used to say "jail wasn't made tuh rippen fig" some times ah fella does leave his house good to go on ah positive mission and run in to trouble, and by defending yuh rights yuh may end up on the wrong end of the law dry so.
doh feel is just bad ppl getting deproted nah cana, it have real decent ppl who get caught up in that net, and yes! it's ah net , ah huge drag net , the only difference is they fishing for ppl of colour, but the real criminals like the russians , and the eastern europeans getting away with murder! literally and figuratively.
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When ya in another man's land, behave yaself and cross dey road properly. When dey Trinis reach in Canada, ent dey does cross with the green light flashing and know not to hail out taxi at dey side of dey road - or go on dey 401 selling alphagarts and kite ?? Strange me ain't hear bout no domestic violence issues in Canada. Allyuh fraid to hit oman ???
Some people have common sense, they know what they can and can't get away wid.
Tigress these countries was build on the backs of immigrants, if yuh think westindians does violate their law then think again.
these russians , albanians, even ppl from the former Yugoslavia does come here and carry on way worst than caribbean ppl and nothing of the sort does happen to them.
but if ah caribbean legal immigrant only sneeze too hard in the U.S. these days , they want tuh lock yuh up and send yuh back down the road, they don't care if yuh have children or sick parents yuh caring for! ah mean it's ah real witch hunt!
i know it have bad fellas from the caribbean who does do all kinda madness in the ppl place , but to every law breaker it have ten law abiding, so why should the innocent pay for the guilty.
my great aunt always used to say "jail wasn't made tuh rippen fig" some times ah fella does leave his house good to go on ah positive mission and run in to trouble, and by defending yuh rights yuh may end up on the wrong end of the law dry so.
doh feel is just bad ppl getting deproted nah cana, it have real decent ppl who get caught up in that net, and yes! it's ah net , ah huge drag net , the only difference is they fishing for ppl of colour, but the real criminals like the russians , and the eastern europeans getting away with murder! literally and figuratively.
JC it eh have no prejudice when de yankee deportin people.all ah we (russian,mex,dutch,WI) everybody in de same boat when u not documented.i personally know 2 mex and 1 domincan get deported.
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When ya in another man's land, behave yaself and cross dey road properly. When dey Trinis reach in Canada, ent dey does cross with the green light flashing and know not to hail out taxi at dey side of dey road - or go on dey 401 selling alphagarts and kite ?? Strange me ain't hear bout no domestic violence issues in Canada. Allyuh fraid to hit oman ???
Some people have common sense, they know what they can and can't get away wid.
Tigress these countries was build on the backs of immigrants, if yuh think westindians does violate their law then think again. <---------All Nationalities does violate, some more than others. How many times I hear stories of deportees coming back with BWIA aka Caribbean Airlines. Every bloody Wednesday at 7 am, at least 4 coming off a plane. And what dey do; assault, tief, rape and more recently drugs mules.
these russians , albanians, even ppl from the former Yugoslavia does come here and carry on way worst than caribbean ppl and nothing of the sort does happen to them. <-----------I really don't care much about these people. When Caribbean people play the arse, they make it harder for those they innocent ones who following to get dey visitor visa/landed immigrant card. North America already think of us as 3rd world countries....why ???
but if ah caribbean legal immigrant only sneeze too hard in the U.S. these days , they want tuh lock yuh up and send yuh back down the road, they don't care if yuh have children or sick parents yuh caring for! ah mean it's ah real witch hunt! <---------Abide by dey rules and nothing will happen to you. But no my people want to drink and fight, walk bareback, take what aint' deres and shoot down the people place and lash people AND doh return after ya visitor visa EXPIRE. What you expect to happen ???
There are Caribbean people living in North America for donkey years that never saw what a handcuff looks like...what is the difference between them and those who getting a free plane ride home?
i know it have bad fellas from the caribbean who does do all kinda madness in the ppl place , but to every law breaker it have ten law abiding, so why should the innocent pay for the guilty. <---------- I agree with you. Peter pay for Paul - That happens everywhere including in the Caribbean
my great aunt always used to say "jail wasn't made tuh rippen fig" some times ah fella does leave his house good to go on ah positive mission and run in to trouble, and by defending yuh rights yuh may end up on the wrong end of the law dry so. <--------------- True and that's ah fact...all nationalities go through this.
doh feel is just bad ppl getting deproted nah cana, it have real decent ppl who get caught up in that net, and yes! it's ah net , ah huge drag net , the only difference is they fishing for ppl of colour, but the real criminals like the russians , and the eastern europeans getting away with murder! literally and figuratively.<-------- I not thinking that it's only Caribbean people dear. But these are the only people I concerned about. I don't care what color complexion they have, when they get send home, they make harder for the ones who want to attend dey mudda funeral/visit ah relative in hospital - simply because the immigration officer on Marli Street and them on Sweet Briar Road doh truss you to come back.
We are our own worst enemy
p.s when ah getting promoted to lioness ??? :beermug:
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JC, phone a fren ... ah go answer Cana question :angel:
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When ya in another man's land, behave yaself and cross dey road properly. When dey Trinis reach in Canada, ent dey does cross with the green light flashing and know not to hail out taxi at dey side of dey road - or go on dey 401 selling alphagarts and kite ?? Strange me ain't hear bout no domestic violence issues in Canada. Allyuh fraid to hit oman ???
Some people have common sense, they know what they can and can't get away wid.
Tigress these countries was build on the backs of immigrants, if yuh think westindians does violate their law then think again. <---------All Nationalities does violate, some more than others. How many times I hear stories of deportees coming back with BWIA aka Caribbean Airlines. Every bloody Wednesday at 7 am, at least 4 coming off a plane. And what dey do; assault, tief, rape and more recently drugs mules.
these russians , albanians, even ppl from the former Yugoslavia does come here and carry on way worst than caribbean ppl and nothing of the sort does happen to them. <-----------I really don't care much about these people. When Caribbean people play the arse, they make it harder for those they innocent ones who following to get dey visitor visa/landed immigrant card. North America already think of us as 3rd world countries....why ???
but if ah caribbean legal immigrant only sneeze too hard in the U.S. these days , they want tuh lock yuh up and send yuh back down the road, they don't care if yuh have children or sick parents yuh caring for! ah mean it's ah real witch hunt! <---------Abide by dey rules and nothing will happen to you. But no my people want to drink and fight, walk bareback, take what aint' deres and shoot down the people place and lash people AND doh return after ya visitor visa EXPIRE. What you expect to happen ???
There are Caribbean people living in North America for donkey years that never saw what a handcuff looks like...what is the difference between them and those who getting a free plane ride home?
i know it have bad fellas from the caribbean who does do all kinda madness in the ppl place , but to every law breaker it have ten law abiding, so why should the innocent pay for the guilty. <---------- I agree with you. Peter pay for Paul - That happens everywhere including in the Caribbean
my great aunt always used to say "jail wasn't made tuh rippen fig" some times ah fella does leave his house good to go on ah positive mission and run in to trouble, and by defending yuh rights yuh may end up on the wrong end of the law dry so. <--------------- True and that's ah fact...all nationalities go through this.
doh feel is just bad ppl getting deproted nah cana, it have real decent ppl who get caught up in that net, and yes! it's ah net , ah huge drag net , the only difference is they fishing for ppl of colour, but the real criminals like the russians , and the eastern europeans getting away with murder! literally and figuratively.<-------- I not thinking that it's only Caribbean people dear. But these are the only people I concerned about. I don't care what color complexion they have, when they get send home, they make harder for the ones who want to attend dey mudda funeral/visit ah relative in hospital - simply because the immigration officer on Marli Street and them on Sweet Briar Road doh truss you to come back.
We are our own worst enemy
p.s when ah getting promoted to lioness ??? :beermug:
This is for CAPO. Breds mexicans and dominicans is ppl of colour, where yuh think the dominican republic is ? not in the middle of the caribbean?
i personally know that for a fact, BC my breddren working for INS and he does give me the scoop.
is real constitutional violations dem ppl does be engaging in, and dey does get way wid it BC WI to backward! dey don't know sh!t and does go on like they do, dey does just eat drink and work hard like cattle, but as far as being on the up and up,we are a waste of time. we doh have no political power and no say whatsoever here in foreign(U.S.), it's ah real shame.
Cana sorry for the mix up i was sending this post to capo but i quote the wrong post. i was going to reply to you soon as i was done with him , but since ah done here= as for the lioness, wham like yuh doh know ah tiger is the biggest wild cat and not the lion, take yuh time, tigress is the ultimate, enjoy.
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JC but lioness 'cute' ;D
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When ya in another man's land, behave yaself and cross dey road properly. When dey Trinis reach in Canada, ent dey does cross with the green light flashing and know not to hail out taxi at dey side of dey road - or go on dey 401 selling alphagarts and kite ?? Strange me ain't hear bout no domestic violence issues in Canada. Allyuh fraid to hit oman ???
Some people have common sense, they know what they can and can't get away wid.
I totally agree. When yuh in the people place, illegally at that, behave yuh self and stay in a gear. In other words, hush yuh mouth and leh people like yuh. Men does go out dey and have a sense of entitlement, like the US owe dem something.
Now that solider in the article must be had a string of bad luck eh but he is the exception and not the rule. It have men going out dey and eh do nothing with they life. I know a man who was dey nearly 20 years and get stop, for all things, driving with no license after all that time. Dey send him back forthwith, in the same clothes he had on. He eh even get chance to go home and pack.
I know at least 4 men in Trini right now who get deported for a variety of reasons. One ah dem so thusty to go back he trying to devise a plan to reach Canada and sneak cross the border.
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When ya in another man's land, behave yaself and cross dey road properly. When dey Trinis reach in Canada, ent dey does cross with the green light flashing and know not to hail out taxi at dey side of dey road - or go on dey 401 selling alphagarts and kite ?? Strange me ain't hear bout no domestic violence issues in Canada. Allyuh fraid to hit oman ???
Some people have common sense, they know what they can and can't get away wid.
I totally agree. When yuh in the people place, illegally at that, behave yuh self and stay in a gear. In other words, hush yuh mouth and leh people like yuh. Men does go out dey and have a sense of entitlement, like the US owe dem something.
Now that solider in the article must be had a string of bad luck eh but he is the exception and not the rule. It have men going out dey and eh do nothing with they life. I know a man who was dey nearly 20 years and get stop, for all things, driving with no license after all that time. Dey send him back forthwith, in the same clothes he had on. He eh even get chance to go home and pack.
I know at least 4 men in Trini right now who get deported for a variety of reasons. One ah dem so thusty to go back he trying to devise a plan to reach Canada and sneak cross the border.
That's a real subjective point of view bro, i think you should look @ it from ah human rights prospective.
a fella live in a country for 20 yrs , lets just say he's ah tax payer, does not have ah criminal record, gets caught driving without a license, minor infraction, worthy of a ticket and ceasure of vehicle, instead BC he's a legal alien he's arrested, and deported back to his place of birth, even though he's been in the country since he was 2yrs old, schooled, reared and grew up in this culture.
how many white kids(over 21) does get arrested for all kinda major infractions, and does get released into their parents custody and within a month get the charges droped BC they had proper legal representation?
so why should that be? because they were born in the country ? does that give them far more rights than someone who was not, who may have grown and schooled alongside that said american born.
didn't alexander hamilton deserve the same rights as andrew jackson even though alexander was born outside of the U.S.?
assuredly yes , and they were in the days when men were crude, as oppossed to now where we( in contemporary times)has become more accomodating and civil.
what's happening right now in the society is quite illegal and unconstitutional, trust meh i know what i'm talking bout.
i does read up on the constitution and the amendments, my lawyer brian from trini and he used to enlighten W.I. on the immigration law, he even has a monthly news letter, i could post one for you if you like.
but no breds, half of them ppl who were deported was illegally deported.
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Therre was no US when Alexander hamilton was born, he was like the son washington never had....he was not west indian either he was an english man.
Washington was english first and then American after.
Hamilton was a founding father.
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Therre was no US when Alexander hamilton was born, he was like the son washington never had....he was not west indian either he was an english man.
Washington was english first and then American after.
Hamilton was a founding father.
Breds where on earth did i mentioned the man (alexander) was a west indian??
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That's a real subjective point of view bro, i think you should look @ it from ah human rights prospective.
a fella live in a country for 20 yrs , lets just say he's ah tax payer, does not have ah criminal record, gets caught driving without a license, minor infraction, worthy of a ticket and ceasure of vehicle, instead BC he's a legal alien he's arrested, and deported back to his place of birth, even though he's been in the country since he was 2yrs old, schooled, reared and grew up in this culture.
how many white kids(over 21) does get arrested for all kinda major infractions, and does get released into their parents custody and within a month get the charges droped BC they had proper legal representation?
First off yuh ah have no rights per say because yuh dey illegally. Yuh eh suppose to be paying tax because yuh eh suppose to be woking in the people place, because yuh dey illegally.
Now, if yuh waiting on yuh papers to come through is one thing but dem people who does go dey and get in trouble, jes dey coasting through life, HUSTLIN.
So you trying to tell me, you in the people country illegally, operating a vehicle without a valid license and get ketch and you want to tell me bout human rights. Matter of fact, that is not even a minor infraction that is a serious charge. If he should bounce and kill somebody, what then???
Doh try and make no excuses for yuh padna and dem who dey illegally and eh even self have ah application form for ah green card much less residency. All yuh know what the right is, so do it.
Dem deportees does give the rest ah we law abiding people ah bad name. When we going through customs and the man see ah Trini passport is the most amount ah questions all because he know half ah we going NY with no intention of returning.
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Therre was no US when Alexander hamilton was born, he was like the son washington never had....he was not west indian either he was an english man.
Washington was english first and then American after.
Hamilton was a founding father.
Breds where on earth did i mentioned the man (alexander) was a west indian??
well yuh same he was afforded the SAME RIGHTS a person born in the US, and I merely pointed out that there was NO US at that time....so it eh matter...he was born in Nevis..dat coulda make him ah west indian not so?
anyway check yuh 10 dollar bill,,,,he was never a prez but de firsy sec of the treasury and founder of the bank of NY!
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That's a real subjective point of view bro, i think you should look @ it from ah human rights prospective.
a fella live in a country for 20 yrs , lets just say he's ah tax payer, does not have ah criminal record, gets caught driving without a license, minor infraction, worthy of a ticket and ceasure of vehicle, instead BC he's a legal alien he's arrested, and deported back to his place of birth, even though he's been in the country since he was 2yrs old, schooled, reared and grew up in this culture.
how many white kids(over 21) does get arrested for all kinda major infractions, and does get released into their parents custody and within a month get the charges droped BC they had proper legal representation?
First off yuh ah have no rights per say because yuh dey illegally. Yuh eh suppose to be paying tax because yuh eh suppose to be woking in the people place, because yuh dey illegally.
Now, if yuh waiting on yuh papers to come through is one thing but dem people who does go dey and get in trouble, jes dey coasting through life, HUSTLIN.
So you trying to tell me, you in the people country illegally, operating a vehicle without a valid license and get ketch and you want to tell me bout human rights. Matter of fact, that is not even a minor infraction that is a serious charge. If he should bounce and kill somebody, what then???
Doh try and make no excuses for yuh padna and dem who dey illegally and eh even self have ah application form for ah green card much less residency. All yuh know what the right is, so do it.
Dem deportees does give the rest ah we law abiding people ah bad name. When we going through customs and the man see ah Trini passport is the most amount ah questions all because he know half ah we going NY with no intention of returning.
Breds yuh know what i don't like about posting on this forum! the way how fellas does put words in ppl mouth.
now where did i mentioned anything of illegal immigrants! go back and read properly what i wrote, and see if yuh could find any mention of "ILLEGAL and IMMIGRANTS" in the same sentence! sttuueeppsss.
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When ya in another man's land, behave yaself and cross dey road properly. When dey Trinis reach in Canada, ent dey does cross with the green light flashing and know not to hail out taxi at dey side of dey road - or go on dey 401 selling alphagarts and kite ?? Strange me ain't hear bout no domestic violence issues in Canada. Allyuh fraid to hit oman ???
Some people have common sense, they know what they can and can't get away wid.
I totally agree. When yuh in the people place, illegally at that, behave yuh self and stay in a gear. In other words, hush yuh mouth and leh people like yuh. Men does go out dey and have a sense of entitlement, like the US owe dem something.
Now that solider in the article must be had a string of bad luck eh but he is the exception and not the rule. It have men going out dey and eh do nothing with they life. I know a man who was dey nearly 20 years and get stop, for all things, driving with no license after all that time. Dey send him back forthwith, in the same clothes he had on. He eh even get chance to go home and pack.
I know at least 4 men in Trini right now who get deported for a variety of reasons. One ah dem so thusty to go back he trying to devise a plan to reach Canada and sneak cross the border.
That's a real subjective point of view bro, i think you should look @ it from ah human rights prospective.
a fella live in a country for 20 yrs , lets just say he's ah tax payer, does not have ah criminal record, gets caught driving without a license, minor infraction, worthy of a ticket and ceasure of vehicle, instead BC he's a legal alien he's arrested, and deported back to his place of birth, even though he's been in the country since he was 2yrs old, schooled, reared and grew up in this culture.
how many white kids(over 21) does get arrested for all kinda major infractions, and does get released into their parents custody and within a month get the charges droped BC they had proper legal representation?
so why should that be? because they were born in the country ? does that give them far more rights than someone who was not, who may have grown and schooled alongside that said american born.
didn't alexander hamilton deserve the same rights as andrew jackson even though alexander was born outside of the U.S.?
assuredly yes , and they were in the days when men were crude, as oppossed to now where we( in contemporary times)has become more accomodating and civil.
what's happening right now in the society is quite illegal and unconstitutional, trust meh i know what i'm talking bout.
i does read up on the constitution and the amendments, my lawyer brian from trini and he used to enlighten W.I. on the immigration law, he even has a monthly news letter, i could post one for you if you like.
but no breds, half of them ppl who were deported was illegally deported.
They will latch on to any reason to send people back because they have problems with us being their country and they think we are a strain on the economy. The thing is people need tuh stop giving them reasons to even get their foot in the door. You can't come up here and act like you were dragged up instead of being brought up. People does get tie up thinking is the land of the free, but bottom line all they seeing is foreigner and your skin colour, so don't give them reasons to do what they dying to do.
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30,000 Haitians ordered to leave U.S.
February 16, 2009
FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — U.S. immigration authorities say they've ordered 30,000 Haitians to leave the country.
Haitian officials, however, say they're not issuing the travel documents needed to process most deportees.
Handfuls of deportees with valid passports have been returned to Haiti since Dec. 5, following a three-month break in deportations, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. But Haitian officials say the storm-batted Caribbean country needs time to recover and can't handle the return of its citizens.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says the lack of travel documents means some deportees are spending more time in crowded detention centers. According to ICE, about 600 Haitians are being detained and more than 240 others are under a form of house arrest and being monitored with electronic ankle bracelets.
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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30,000 Haitians ordered to leave U.S.
February 16, 2009
FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — U.S. immigration authorities say they've ordered 30,000 Haitians to leave the country.
Haitian officials, however, say they're not issuing the travel documents needed to process most deportees.
Handfuls of deportees with valid passports have been returned to Haiti since Dec. 5, following a three-month break in deportations, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. But Haitian officials say the storm-batted Caribbean country needs time to recover and can't handle the return of its citizens.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says the lack of travel documents means some deportees are spending more time in crowded detention centers. According to ICE, about 600 Haitians are being detained and more than 240 others are under a form of house arrest and being monitored with electronic ankle bracelets.
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
PLATOW.....juss so ???
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Deportees influx can pose serious threat to society
By DARCEL CHOY Saturday, January 8 2011
The increase in domestic crimes has a direct correlation with the influx of deportees coming in to the country, according to Calvin James of the People’s Issues Resolution Unit.
James, acting Co-ordinator in the Unit at the Ministry of the People and Social Development, said so yesterday during the Repatriation Study Commission on Involuntary Migration at the University of Trinidad and Tobago, O’Meara Campus, Arima,
James noted that from 1990 to 2005, there were 2,983 deportees, while from January, 2003 to November, 2010, there were 3,003 deportees from various parts of the world, including the United States, Canada and United Kingdom.
“It is a dire predicament, and it is impacting on our socio-economic position,” declared James, who also noted “there are security concerns, institutional concerns and social concerns.”
He said it was difficult for deportees to be re-integrated into society. Instead he noted, it encourages them to pick up a lot of the bad norms they adopted that “put them in the situation to begin with.”
“There are different categories of deportees and that has to be taken into consideration,” declared James. With regard to those returning, “we need to set up mechanisms to determine their levels of vulnerability; their levels of needs, and the problems they may pose on society,” he said.
James said for this to be achieved, advanced notification from the deporting countries about the individuals would be important.
“This is a group that can pose a serious threat to society, and if we do not treat with our returning citizens who may have been involved in violent crimes, then we would continue to see the ills in our society,” he added.
He noted that the institutional concerns included social workers assigned to deal with deportees, were becoming overworked and stressed.
“They are not well equipped to deal with some of the situations that confront them. There is a need for re-engineering the way they treat with deportees,” he added.
James said the Government has put together a national policy and action plan to address the negative socio-economic impact of deporting persons to TT.
“The focus is to re-integrate deportees into society in a seamless manner. Reverse some of the discrimination that many deportees face.” The objective of this policy, he explained, “was to facilitate easier access to public services; to encourage a greater collaboration among stakeholders, and to encourage linkages with other regional and international stakeholders,” he said.
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The increase in domestic crimes has a direct correlation with the influx of deportees coming in to the country, according to Calvin James of the People’s Issues Resolution Unit.
James said the Government has put together a national policy and action plan to address the negative socio-economic impact of deporting persons to TT.
Mr james sir it seems as though the policy and action plan not working properly because crime in the country is increasing and the gov like they dont have a clue how to handle it .
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Deportees influx can pose serious threat to society
By DARCEL CHOY Saturday, January 8 2011
James noted that from 1990 to 2005, there were 2,983 deportees, while from January, 2003 to November, 2010, there were 3,003 deportees from various parts of the world, including the United States, Canada and United Kingdom.
“It is a dire predicament, and it is impacting on our socio-economic position,” declared James, who also noted “there are security concerns, institutional concerns and social concerns.”
He said it was difficult for deportees to be re-integrated into society. Instead he noted, it encourages them to pick up a lot of the bad norms they adopted that “put them in the situation to begin with.”
“
Damn so this has been an issue since 1990...
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4,218 Trinis sent home in 10 years.
By Rhondor Dowlat (Guardian).
Deportees beg for better life
In the past 10 years, over 4,000 T&T nationals were deported from the United States (US), Canada and the UK. The rise in deportees came as a consequence of amendments to each country’s respective immigration legislation. For example, the US passed the Illegal Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IRIRA) and the Anti-Terrorism Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) in the 1990s, which all had serious repercussions for lawful permanent residents or green card holders.
Under this specific legislation, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement was granted unfettered powers, basically allowing it to reclassify minor crimes such as petty theft, shoplifting, drug infractions and drunk driving as deportable offences. Previously, only aggravated felonies such as rape and kidnapping were deportable offences.
The USA Patriot Act, passed after the 9/11 terrorism incidents in New York, also had serious consequences for migrants suspected of being involved in plotting, inciting or aiding terrorism acts.
Statistics obtained from the US Department of State’s Homeland Security show that during a ten-year period from 2001-2010, some 72,371 people with Caribbean links were deported back to their home countries. Of this figure, 44,422 of them were deported for criminal offences. There were 4,218 Trinis among those deported and 2,433 of them were deported for criminal offences.
In the past year, according to records from the Ministry of National Security, there were approximately 175 nationals who were sent back to T&T. According to the ministry, the Government has a Memorandum of Understanding with the governments of the UK, USA and Canada regarding the sharing of information about deportees and the crimes committed in these countries. This information is shared prior to the arrival of the deportees in T&T.
On arrival in this country, deportees are first interviewed by Immigration authorities, then Special Branch and Social Welfare Officers. In addition, the Ministry of the People and Social Development has a Social Displacement Unit that assesses a deportee’s varied needs, best interests and welfare in this country after a comprehensive examination.
Deportees are assisted with housing, identification cards, employment opportunities and educational opportunities, apart from being reconnected with relatives who may still be residing in T&T. Non-governmental organisations such as Vision on Mission, Living Waters Community and St Vincent De Paul also play an integral role in the resettlement and reintegration of the deportees into the society.
Helpless feeling
One deportee, Dave Douglas, 53, of Curepe, was deported from Los Angeles, California, after he served time for domestic violence. He described his return to T&T as “being snatched from Africa and sent to T&T as an outcast and a slave.” Douglas left Trinidad at age 18 in 1978 seeking a better life. But some 27 years later he got into trouble with the law and in October 2010 was deported to Trinidad. Douglas left his seven children behind in the US.
“Being sent back here was one of the worst feelings,” he told the Sunday Guardian. “I was placed on an American Airlines flight with two US marshals, one on each side of me. I was handcuffed. “I felt equated to slaves being snatched from Africa. When I arrived in Piarco I met with customs officials and then I was allowed to leave with no money. I had nothing.”
After four years, Douglas said, he was yet to adopt to the T&T lifestyle and he was finding life very hard. He is still seeking residence at St Vincent de Paul’s in Port-of-Spain. “When I was back home (in the US) I worked as a Class 1 machinist on several US government projects. Compared to here in Trinidad, it is very tough for me. “No one wants to hire me and I am forced to work as a security guard off and on. Readjusting is very hard.”
Douglas said he grieved because of his children and was praying his life would get better one day. Another deportee, Steve Charles, 61, returned to Trinidad about six months ago, having been deported from the US. Charles called on the Government to implement effective and efficient programmes to properly reintegrate deportees into society. “It is really hard for us. When we come here in Trinidad, we feel lost,” Charles said.
“There needs to be programmes to help us in education and training and proper employment opportunities for us so we don’t have to resort to crime and living on the streets, because this is so easy for some of us to do. We just want to live our lives as the average T&T citizen.”
Lack of funding
Supervisor at the St Vincent de Paul home, Selwyn Coutain, admitted that the organisation was going through a tough period but was continuing its efforts to assist the needy, including deportees. “We are not getting the required subsidies to have this place running properly,” Coutain said.
“Staff haven’t gotten a raise of pay for the past eight years and they are still coming out to assist with the residents, and that by itself is a risk for everyone because we are all exposed to residents who have contracted diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV/Aids, herpes and scabies. “We don’t have the proper health care protection and equipment. We also have no insurance.”
According to the Vision on Mission’s Web site, many deportees encounter major difficulties in adjusting after incarceration or upon return to T&T, especially when it came to reconnecting with their families, adjusting to their new environment, finding employment and accommodation.
“Some have even experienced severe mental breakdown as a result of the transition and separation from the families or loved ones they were forced to leave behind. A large number of deportees are unskilled and need to be trained or retrained to work within the society. They may also be plagued with substance abuse and health problems, which may require special dietary needs,” the Web site noted.
Regional problem
In the most recent Caricom Crime and Security Report, criminal deportees were widely viewed as the major force driving the increasing rate of violent crime, introducing new types of crime and generally extending the criminal repertoire of local criminals. The report said it was believed that they helped to extend and intensify the transnational links of ordinary criminals, and were involved in organising and facilitating the trafficking in illegal drugs and firearms.
The report added that deportees presented a new and special danger to Caribbean societies, but the already high levels of unemployment in some of the territories; limited opportunities for acquiring new skills; the stigma of criminal deportation; and difficulty in starting a new, conventional life made the reintegration of a deportee into society difficult.
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Clive Small deported to TT
Sunday, April 5 2015
TT Newsday
AN 80-year-old Trinidadian, who served almost a decade in US federal prison for illegally obtaining machine guns and silencers in Florida, was deported back to this country according to the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) agency.
ICE reported that Clive Lancelot Small was “removed from the United States” on Wednesday by officers of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO)via commercial aircraft from the Lafayette airport to Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
Small had been convicted in US District Court for the Southern District of Florida in August 2005 of conspiracy to possess machine guns and firearm silencers, and possession of machine guns and firearm silencers.
The case against Small began in 2000 with telephone tape recordings done by undercover ATF agents in Florida to a residence in Trinidad. One man, Trinidadian Keith Andre Glaude, who was implicated in the conspiracy, pleaded guilty in 2002 and was jailed for two years. He was one of the key witnesses against Small, 70, a grocery owner of Gonzales and a top member of the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen, the Newsday reported in a November 2004 story.
On May 23, 2002, a grand jury sitting in the Southern District of Florida returned an indictment charging Small in a three-count indictment with conspiracy to possess machine guns and silencers, and possession of machine guns and silencers. The penalty for conspiracy to possess machine guns and firearm silencers carried a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and a US$250,000 fine. The penalty for possession of machine guns carried a maximum penalty of ten years and a US$250,000 fine. The penalty for possession of firearm silencers carried a maximum penalty of ten years and a US$250,000 fine.
The ICE report states that Small was taken into immigration custody in February following his release from federal prison. ICE also reported that Small was previously deported from the United States in 1998 as ordered by an immigration judge but was paroled back into the country in 2004 to face the federal weapons charges.
“US Immigration and Customs Enforcement will continue to focus its removal resources on violent criminals and other high-priority aliens who pose the greatest threat to our communities,” said ERO New Orleans field office director David Rivera.
Sunday Newsday contacted National Security Minister Carl Alfonso yesterday via telephone for a comment for this story. Alfonso said he was at a function and was unable to speak.
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A Jewel Thief’s Audacious Comeback
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/fashion/17CROOK.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1& (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/fashion/17CROOK.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&)
(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/04/17/fashion/17crook01-600.jpg)
Derek Khan, imprisoned in New York for pawning borrowed jewelry, he is now designing a jewelry line.
Daryl Visscher for The New York Times
DEREK KHAN arrived in Dubai last November the same way he arrived in New York nearly 30 years ago — dead broke and determined to be famous.
He was drawn to the desert metropolis by an acquaintance, a freelance writer he had once asked to help write his memoirs, who told him that Dubai was a city so preoccupied with its future that no one would be interested in his past. Mr. Khan, who is 50, was convinced that there he could restart his career as a stylist to the stars, just as soon as he figured out who they were.
“People here, they know,” Mr. Khan said during a late-night phone call this week from a villa where he is staying in an exclusive compound known as Emirates Hills. “But they try not to know. They don’t like to dwell on the negative.”
To a sizable contingent of the hip-hop and fashion worlds, Mr. Khan’s felonious history is so well known that it seemed unlikely he would ever resurface publicly. In 2003, he was imprisoned for pawning more than $1.5 million worth of jewelry he had borrowed from Harry Winston, Graff, Piaget and other companies on the pretense that they would be worn by his celebrity clients.
During the 1990s, he had been the most sought-after stylist in the music business, celebrated for changing the prevailing look of artists like Missy Elliott, Mary J. Blige and Lauryn Hill from street fashion to Prada, Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent (labels that then became a part of the rap lyric lexicon). He had used the money to fuel a lavish lifestyle, supplying an entourage of friends with Champagne and dinners at Mr. Chow.
His downfall, following his arrest, was swift and humiliating. When he was released from prison in 2005, his green card was revoked, and he was deported to his native Trinidad, with, he said, all of $10 in his pocket.
But in Dubai, Mr. Khan is again a star. He has appeared as a commentator and a makeover specialist on Dubai satellite channels and on the covers of celebrity magazines, including OK! Middle East and Mondanité, which have treated Mr. Khan’s arrival as validation of the worthiness of the United Arab Emirates as a stylish destination.
Declared Mondanité: “When one of America’s premier fashion stylists decides to make Dubai his home, you know that we have finally truly become a fashion capital to be reckoned with.”
And from XPress, a style supplement to The Gulf News: “Celebrity designer Derek Khan says he finds Dubai women 100 times more stylish than Los Angeles celebs.”
No mention of his incarceration appears in the accompanying press.
“They’ve never brought it up,” Mr. Khan said. “A lot of people who have a background come here. It’s like a new Australia.”
He has been accepted into the society of wealthy expatriates and Saudi royalty, even by those Mr. Khan said are aware of his prior accommodations. Timm Lemcke, a German property developer, said he invited Mr. Khan to stay, for free, in his villa, which has a swimming pool in the backyard. (“He’s a nice guy,” Mr. Lemcke said. “I had no problem with it.”)
But surely the most surprising development in Mr. Khan’s life in Dubai came shortly after he appeared as a guest on “HerSay,” on the Dubai One network. He was approached by a jewelry company that wanted him to design a Derek Khan collection.
“I thought I’d never see jewelry again,” Mr. Khan said.
The company, Hof Jewellery, once had a store on Old Bond Street in London (hence, the British spelling), but it has focused almost entirely on its wholesale business since the 1990s, often designing diamond necklaces anonymously for other stores.
Maria Oustwani, the Dubai-based general manager at Hof, said that the company plans to reassert its brand over the next three years by opening stores in Saudi Arabia and that she believes Mr. Khan will help draw attention to its collections. His 35-piece collection will be sold this fall. Ms. Oustwani said Mr. Khan would not be paid until the designs go on sale.
“He took Dubai by storm,” she said. When they began discussing the collection, she said, he confessed that he had pleaded guilty and been in jail for reselling borrowed jewelry.
“We think Derek has paid his dues,” Ms. Oustwani said.
Some who knew Mr. Khan in New York would disagree.
“I am sick to my stomach,” said Eve Goldberg, a vice president at the William Goldberg Diamond Company, one of the concerns involved in legal action against Mr. Khan that was unable to recover the jewelry he borrowed. Ms. Goldberg described Mr. Khan as a “con man.” “If he was smarter and not a criminal, he could have been very successful,” she said.
“It’s funny. I kept imagining him getting out of prison and having the nerve to call me.”
The worst part of prison, Mr. Khan said, was losing his friendships from the fashion world. Despite the nature of his crime, he was surprised to find that none of his former clients visited him at Rikers Island, or at two upstate prisons, the Watertown Correctional Facility and the Ulster Correctional Facility. Mr. Khan continued to follow their careers in the pages of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, and his reading selections — along with the awareness of his formerly pampered lifestyle — made him a target of other prisoners and also guards.
“I was given the worst things to do, like scrubbing the toilets,” he said, “even though I was capable of helping G.E.D. students.”
When he was released and returned to Trinidad, Mr. Khan, for the first time, allowed himself to feel depressed.
“It was at that moment that I realized that this was worse, even, than jail,” he said. “It was hot and humid and alien to me.”
Mr. Khan had not been in Trinidad since his teenage years. His mother, who died in 2002, and his siblings had long ago settled in Canada. As a youth he had moved to New York and worked as a sales assistant at Yves Saint Laurent and Givenchy. In the ’80s, as he tells the story, he met Madonna and made a deal to manage her backup dancers. His big break came a few years later, dressing Salt-N-Pepa in borrowed Chanel, a makeover that caught the attention of Motown Records, which hired Mr. Khan to work with new artists as they were signed.
“He had a very powerful following in the fashion world,” recalled Brian Jones, a friend from that period who was working in Motown’s video production department. Artists would demand Mr. Khan’s services as part of a “glam squad”; he would go on tour with them to style their clothes and imagery, and also to entertain them. He appeared on countless talk shows and on “America’s Next Top Model” as a guest judge.
Cheryl Lala, a childhood friend, remembered seeing Mr. Khan talking about Pink on a VH1 special. Years later, after his return to Trinidad, she was surprised when driving down a street in Trincity to see Mr. Khan walking the other way.
“What impresses me about Khan is that he is never down,” said Ms. Lala (who is not related to the professional golfer of the same name). “You would think he would be depressed, back in Trinidad, no money, no place to live, but he is always looking up.”
Ms. Lala invited Mr. Khan to live with her. A successful copy writer for political campaigns, Ms. Lala used her own money to pay for Mr. Khan’s ticket to Dubai, a visa, hotel rooms and other travel expenses worth more than $20,000. She said the money was not a significant amount to her, “no skin off my nose.”
“I said, Way hey, Khan, the only way I’ll get you out of my house is to pay,” she said, laughing. “I wanted to help him get back on his feet again.”
Mr. Khan has landed. All that weighs on his mind today is whether to order up more diamonds, more rubies or more pearls.
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Clive Small deported to TT
Sunday, April 5 2015
TT Newsday
AN 80-year-old Trinidadian, who served almost a decade in US federal prison for illegally obtaining machine guns and silencers in Florida, was deported back to this country according to the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) agency.
ICE reported that Clive Lancelot Small was “removed from the United States” on Wednesday by officers of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO)via commercial aircraft from the Lafayette airport to Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
Small had been convicted in US District Court for the Southern District of Florida in August 2005 of conspiracy to possess machine guns and firearm silencers, and possession of machine guns and firearm silencers.
The case against Small began in 2000 with telephone tape recordings done by undercover ATF agents in Florida to a residence in Trinidad. One man, Trinidadian Keith Andre Glaude, who was implicated in the conspiracy, pleaded guilty in 2002 and was jailed for two years. He was one of the key witnesses against Small, 70, a grocery owner of Gonzales and a top member of the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen, the Newsday reported in a November 2004 story.
On May 23, 2002, a grand jury sitting in the Southern District of Florida returned an indictment charging Small in a three-count indictment with conspiracy to possess machine guns and silencers, and possession of machine guns and silencers. The penalty for conspiracy to possess machine guns and firearm silencers carried a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and a US$250,000 fine. The penalty for possession of machine guns carried a maximum penalty of ten years and a US$250,000 fine. The penalty for possession of firearm silencers carried a maximum penalty of ten years and a US$250,000 fine.
The ICE report states that Small was taken into immigration custody in February following his release from federal prison. ICE also reported that Small was previously deported from the United States in 1998 as ordered by an immigration judge but was paroled back into the country in 2004 to face the federal weapons charges.
“US Immigration and Customs Enforcement will continue to focus its removal resources on violent criminals and other high-priority aliens who pose the greatest threat to our communities,” said ERO New Orleans field office director David Rivera.
Sunday Newsday contacted National Security Minister Carl Alfonso yesterday via telephone for a comment for this story. Alfonso said he was at a function and was unable to speak.
like I always say not everybody born to b doctor or lawyer,yuh choose a path deal with whatever comes with it.....I personally know small Infact he is my brother godfather,spend yuh last few years chilling Fire.
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1,793 deportees back from US.
By Gail Alexander (Guardian).
Over the last 10 years, some 1,793 Trinidad and Tobago nationals were deported from the United States back to T&T, National Security Minister Edmund Dillon confirmed yesterday.
Dillon gave the figure in Parliament while replying to queries from Opposition Caroni East MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh on the issue.
Gopeesingh had sought the deportee levels from 2007 to 2016.
According to Dillon’s figures, the highest level of nationals deported from the US over the ten-year period was in 2008, when 325 were sent back. The lowest figure was 2015 when 77 returned.
Dillon listed the following deportee levels.
• 2007 - 260
• 2008 - 325
• 2009 - 264
• 2010 - 227
• 2011 - 157
• 2012 - 148
• 2013 - 125
• 2014 - 114
• 2015 - 77
• 2016 - 96
Dillon said returnees are placed in different categories according to the reasons/crimes they were deported.
Police and Special Branch follow up cases accordingly, he said.
The most serious category of deportees are those concerning murder and terrorist activities, who are monitored on return by TT intelligence forces and police, he added.
On another query, Dillon said acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams is now actively considering use of non-lethal weapons for police. Dillon had been asked by Opposition MP Dr Lackram Bodoe if he was satisfied with the recent reported shooting of a mentally ill patient within the precincts of Point Fortin hospital.
Dillon couldn’t say if he was satisfied, since he said the matter is under police probe and he didn’t have the facts.
He also said over 2015 and 2016, there had been an approximately 350 per cent increase in interdiction exercises by the T&T Defence Force.
This was due to seizure of over $18m worth of drugs in 2015 and $65m worth in 2016.
Listing system improvements responsible for this, he noted six new Defence Force vessels plus heightened aerial and radar surveillance denying smugglers freedom of action.
Coastal land patrols had also been increased, including in Los Iros, Cedros and similar areas.
Dillon also cited strengthened collaboration with foreign agencies and authorities, including the US, Venezuela and the UK.