Editorial | Under-siege immigrants

A month ago, as the Trump administration accelerated its efforts to throw undocumented and legally-suspect foreigners out of the United States, the Jamaican authorities said they were prepared to accept the island’s citizens.

The government, however, may have to consider what more it can do for Jamaicans living in America – apart from accepting those who are deported – who may wrongfully fall victims of America’s deepening anti-immigrant frenzy.

At the end of May, around 2,500 Jamaicans, according to the foreign minister, Kamina Johnson Smith, were confirmed for removal from America, in line with due process and logistical arrangements. That was approximately 60 per cent of the figure initially suggested.

The repatriations, the foreign minister suggested, would be spread over two years.

Whatever happened, Ms Johnson Smith suggested, Jamaica wouldn’t be blindsided by the influx. The government was actively preparing for the returnees, some of whom were people with criminal convictions, while others had breached immigration regulations.

“We are not operating in reaction mode, and the relevant institutions are already aligned to respond,” the minister said. “It is important to note that immigration enforcement has shifted globally, and while Jamaica is not exempt from its effects, we have been planning accordingly.”

ISN’T THE ONLY ISSUE

But deportation for breaching US immigration laws or after serving criminal sentences isn’t the only issue being faced by Jamaicans, and other foreigners, in America.

Even citizens of the United States and green card holders can find themselves facing the prospect of being removed from the US and having to provide their bona fides. Social media is increasingly replete with these cases, including the trauma faced by a retiring female military veteran with US citizenship, in her quest to gain a new driver’s licence.

The state where the incident occurred is not clear. But the young woman, wearing what appears to be a US Army uniform, speaking in standard English, interspersed with Jamaican patois, was articulate and precise in warning Jamaicans with US citizenship or other residency status to ensure they are in possession of all their “paperwork” because of the problem of profiling.

According to the woman, who identified herself as 20-year military veteran, who has lived in the United States for 25 years and held multiple US passports (ordinary and diplomatic) and driver’s licences, her latest attempt at gaining a driver’s permit has been frustratingly circuitous and belittling.

MORE PAPERWORK

At the time she made the video she had completed her third visit to the offices.

“Every time it is more paperwork, more paperwork,” she said.

By then she had already produced “passport, driver’s licence, orders (apparently for military demobilisation) citizenship paperwork. Everything.” And she was wearing her military uniform.

“(They) Still can’t verify where I am.

In fact, on that last latest visit, her passport and driver’s licence were held. “They say they are going to send it off to a higher entity to verify my identity,” she said.

Added the woman: “Listen, if yu ah a Jamaican and yu ah watch dis, mek sure yu av all yu paperwork – me mean from yu filing paperwork, citizen certificate everything. For these [people] are not playing.

“Yu know, yu (see) di news, yu hear, but fi actually experience it. We are not safe.

“If you are going to travel out of this country or inna dis country, mek sure yu av ah likkle file with a copy of everything, because dem wan sen home all ah wii.”

Jamaica can’t, and is in no position to dictate to the United States how it formulates its immigration policies, or implements the relevant laws. But it can look out for the interest of its citizens in the United States and ensure, insofar as it can, that they receive due process.

Additionally, it can work with NGOs and rights groups in ensuring that its citizens have critical information to help them from falling into America’s widening immigration vortex, and if they do, how best to emerge from it. This, given the importance of Jamaica’s diaspora to the island’s social and economic circumstance, is in the national interest.