Let me begin by stating that not all deportees were sent back to Jamaica because of a criminal past, and certainly not all of our brothers and sisters who have been sent back to our shores have been involved in criminal activity since their return. It has been suggested that deportees have been returning at the rate of close to 2,000 each year for the past 10 years or more. Such a wave of reverse-migration holds out the spectre of dire sociological, social and economic problems for our island state.

A rather cynical spin on New York (NY) Mayor Rudy Giuliani's success in taming the crime beast in his state is couched in the allegation that he engineered a wave of deportations (presumably for criminal reasons) from NY back to economically incapacitated developing countries like Jamaica, from which many thousands had migrated. Other countries may have done the same. Admittedly, this idea of sociological purging may be an oversimplification or an uncharitable judgment on a genuinely successful enterprise by the NY mayor.

Idle deportees

While the current crime levels cannot be reasonably and exclusively placed at the feet of our returning brethren, it is clear to many, however, that some aspects of the sophistication, organisation and obtuse nature of our medusa-like crime problem may be attributable to the activities of idle deportees. Many of these persons may have found it difficult to integrate into an already struggling Jamaican society, with which some may have been minimally familiar, and without a supportive family structure to return to. This appears to be a recipe, and ideal conditions for deviant and dysfunctional behaviour by a hapless deportee group, adding to, and influencing a miserable and growing pool of local-bred societal misfits.

Many persons are of the view that many of our 'returned' brothers and sisters are aligned to deadly and well-organised criminal networks with a transatlantic or North American span, through which guns find safe passage through our mind-numbingly pervious borders and customs. The 14 guns and ammunition reportedly seized last week should have elicited unfettered national celebrations, but a cynical public fears that this is a token recovery, as there may still be hundreds of weapons passing through undetected.

OPPORTUNITY SQUANDERED

More than a decade ago, I recoiled in horror and frustration when the first wave of deportees was about to arrive in Jamaica, and our then strident, and now curiously silent, human rights activists resisted the Government's plan to have them registered at the nearest police station, and report there every two weeks. The argument was that they had already been punished for their crimes abroad. Then, Jamaica had an excellent opportunity to take the crime problem by the scruff of the neck, but again - opportunity squandered.

In typically weak-kneed fashion, the Government of the day relented, handing a pyrrhic victory to these bleeding hearts, while delivering bleeding streets to Jamaica. One wonders if there is a systematic tracking and rehabilitation system in place to counter the potential damage that may emanate from the unchecked influence of this annual influx of Jamaicans, many of whom may have lost their way overseas. Have we considered the possibility that many migrated as innocent babies, learned their nefarious ways abroad, and have been offloaded on Jamaica? Is this the latest form of exported terrorism? We need resolute action. I wonder if our current government has the will or stomach to do something before it's too late?

I am, etc.,

WAT CHING

wat.ching@yahoo.com

Kingston 6

'Many persons are of the view that many of our 'returned' brothers and sisters are aligned to deadly and well-organised criminal networks with a transatlantic or North American span.'