Lead Stories

Laura Redpath, Senior Gleaner Writer

APPROXIMATELY 75 persons of the estimated 6,000 facing deportation proceedings arrived in Jamaica on Thursday to start new chapters in their lives.

Jim, a certified pharmacist technician and musician, was one of the 73 males processed at the Kingston Central Police Station in downtown Kingston.

His arrival marked a journey that started five years ago at the Canada-United States border.

"My mother and I visited a friend in Buffalo," he began. "My friend asked if we would like to go to Canada and see the Niagara Falls. My mother and I thought it would be a good experience.

"The Canadian people were very cordial," he added as an afterthought.

On their way home, their car was stopped by US border-patrol officials.

"They asked us what our residency status was. I told them my mother is a US citizen and I'm a permanent resident."

But Jim, whose mother filed for him and had been living in the United States since 1972, left his green card in New York, where he lived at the time.

Unfair write-up

US officials took him in for questioning and Jim, who was also his mother's legal care provider, said they "unfairly" wrote him up for deportation on the grounds of claiming he was a US citizen and being a convicted felon.

"They told me I was a felon for aggravated assault. I said I had never served prison time in America or Jamaica.

"Before I left, one of those guys said to me, 'Oh, we know you're not a felon'."

His mother, who was living with Alzheimer's, eventually passed away while the order for his deportation was being processed.

"Now, my roommate is in touch with the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigations) to see what can be done. This was a violation of my rights.

"I feel very sad because of the conditions under which I find myself here," Jim said.

Night had fallen and his sing-song voice came across loudly in the quiet parking lot of the Central Police Station.

Jim, still wearing a light sweater from his trip, waited patiently for family members to pick him up, but it was nearly 8 p.m.

A policeman reached into his pocket and handed the new Jamaican arrival a few hundred-dollar bills.

"That should be able to take you where you need to go."

"I will pay you back," Jim said.

"No," the policeman res-ponded. "We are all Jamaicans and we help each other out."

The slightest of smiles graced the traveller's face and he walked away.

Most of the 75 deportee cases were drug-related offences, along with assault, immigration viola-tions and one murder.

Big batch

"The last Thursday of every month we have a big batch (deportees)," a senior official said.

"A British flight comes in every last Wednesday with about 50 or 60 deportees."

A woman approached a police officer, saying she was there to pick up her brother. She was one of many family members who either arrived in tears or with smiles as they greeted their loved ones.

"Some people come with champagne and thing, like is a big celebration," the official said.

While some of the new arrivals may remain mute, as an act of rebellion, or feel unhappy about being back in Jamaica, others take it in stride.

Chris, who lived in Florida in the United States, said he was born in Jamaica but had been living in the US his whole life.

"I'm fine," he said, visibly in a hurry as he walked with a see-through plastic bag of clothes and books. "There was no hard time, just a hold-up."

Persons who are deported are met at the police station by Family Unification and Re-settlement Initiative (FURI) representatives who provide them with food and assist with social readjustment.

FURI is a non-profit organi-sation and was founded by Carmeta Albarus-Lindo who saw a need for social work and help for deported persons as they reintegrated themselves into society.

Names changed upon request.