Two J’can TCNs in Eswatini want to reunite with families in US

NEW YORK:
Two of three Jamaican men deported to Eswatini by the United States have reportedly said they do not wish to return to Jamaica.
The two men, who spoke with Jamaica’s consul general to Miami, Oliver Mair, are 64-year old pastor Junior Alves and a man publicly identified only as ‘Miller’.
During the phone call with Alves, Mair spoke of Jamaica’s commitment to repatriating Jamaicans sent to third countries, but Alves and Miller, who later joined the conservation, said that they only want to return to their families in the United States.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not said why the men were deported to Eswatini.
Alves was picked up at his home in Florida on January 11 and shipped to the African kingdom this month. The DHS has not given any information on the other deported men. It has also not revealed whether any of the men had ever been charged with crimes in the United States.
In US for 44 years
Alves’ wife, Joan, told The Gleaner that he had been in the United States for 44 years and has been a pastor for the past 25 years.
Asked whether he had ever run afoul of the law in the United States, she said that he may have some 40 years ago. However, she did not give any specifics, saying that such information should come from him.
In 2016, Alves was given protection under the United Nations Convention Against Torture and was required to report to US Immigration annually.  
In a news release on Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister Senator Kamina Johnson-Smith said Jamaica’s high commissioner to South Africa is continuing efforts to establish direct contact with the third Jamaican national in Eswatini.
The ministry also said that it had reached out to the US government through the Jamaican Embassy in Washington, DC, seeking information on the circumstances of the men’s removal to Eswatini. 
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, once Jamaican nationals seek entry into the United States on the grounds that they fear for their lives if returned to Jamaica, the US government is under no formal obligation to notify the Jamaican Government if those individuals are subsequently removed to third countries. 
Refugee advocates said that people who seek entry into the United States on the basis of torture or other life-threatening circumstances are given the choice of deportation to a third country.
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