Grandfather of Harlem held for deportation to Jamaica

A New York City community leader who left Jamaica at the age of four and has been fighting deportation since his 2020 release from prison was detained Tuesday by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He had spent 30 years behind bars on a drug conviction.

Youth mentor, 59-year-old Robert Panton, who is dubbed the grandfather of Harlem, spent more than 50 years in the US, however, much of that time was behind bars for a single criminal conviction when he was 24 years old.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment, but after three decades, a judge reportedly released him, citing his full rehabilitation.

He was reportedly set for removal last March, but his legal team has been actively working to have that overturned.

Panton’s fight to remain in the US started during President Donald Trump’s first term in the White House.

According to the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), after exercising discretion in favour of Panton for four years, ICE reversed course Tuesday despite his service to community and ongoing medical concerns.

The NIJC said it has since filed a stay of removal and a habeas corpus petition to stop his deportation.

“They’ll, hopefully, look at the role I’m playing in my community and that detainment is not an option for me. If things go wrong, it would be a gross injustice and can be reversed at any time by the administration that’s in power right now… . There is a process where they say is someone better for the United States or not when they make these considerations. I hope they consider my community efforts trying to help youth stay out of issues that get them in trouble that they can’t get out of. I appreciate all my supporters and all the people who fight for not only due process but the proper consideration of being in this country,” Panton said in a video message prior to his scheduled check-in and detention.

Panton was reportedly accompanied by his life partner and son, who is a police officer, while at his check-in at ICE field office in New York.

His son, who is assigned to the NYPD, has indicated that he is worried for his father’s health if deported to Jamaica.

“Robert’s home is in Harlem, and we need him here with us now more than ever. He works every day to make Harlem a safer place by mentoring our youth. I truly cannot understand why ICE has decided to take him from us today when Robert has done everything they have asked of him for years now. It’s not right,” the NIJC reported Panton’s life partner Sheila Davis Dodson saying.

“Removing Panton from his Harlem community, where he has been a lifeline to neighbourhood youth who are in crisis, a family who loves and needs him, and access to medical care for chronic and debilitating pain, would be unconscionable and have harmful repercussions across an entire New York community,” said NIJC attorney Olivia Abrecht, who represents Panton in his immigration case.

The Gleaner was unable to reach NIJC Communications Director Tara Tidwell Cullen for a comment on the development.

The NIJC posted on its website that Panton was convicted during the height of the US Government’s ‘War on Drugs’ when, like many other black men, he suffered the disproportionate punishment within the criminal legal system.

“Panton was released from prison by a federal judge in August 2020. Today, due to recent reforms, that same conviction would result in a sentence of around six years,” the NIJC said.

Trump, after returning to office on January 20 of this year, announced a flurry of immigration-related executive orders, paving the way for a widespread crackdown on undocumented migrants in the US.

Trump has moved to overhaul parts of the US immigration system, including how convicted migrants are processed and deported from the US.

During a visit to Jamaica on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the media that every country in the world has immigration laws.

“If you don’t enforce them, you don’t have immigration laws … . The president is doing something that, frankly, hasn’t been done in a long time. He is enforcing our immigration laws …,” Rubio said.

Today, the third batch of deportees from the US since the start of the year is to arrive at the Norman Manley International Airport.

Every last Thursday, the US sends a charted flight to Jamaica with persons who have been ordered removed from the US.

In January, 56 deportees were sent home and another 55 in February.

It was not immediately clear how many will be sent home today.

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com