Deportees are an economic and socio-psychological burden on the Caribbean.

That’s what Chief Technical Advisor in the Ministry of National Security of Jamaica Anne-Marie Barnes said, on August 28, on Capitol Hill. Barnes testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. The briefing detailed the kind of socio-psychological and economic burdens CARICOM (Caribbean Community) nations face when deportees return to the region.

Citing a recent CARICOM study of Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, Barnes said that of the 340 deportees surveyed, 96 percent of those left family members in the United States. Barnes urged panelists to help with reintegration programs, lengthen the notification time and cooperate fully on other security issues. She also punctured the belief that moving criminals from the United States to the Caribbean will aid Homeland Security.

“In a global world, problems of insecurity in any given location are unlikely to be constrained by borders,” Barnes said to the committee members.

Largest batch

In 2006, the United Sates deported 196,707 individuals. Of that number, Jamaica swallowed the largest batch of deportees who returned to the English-speaking Caribbean. Jamaica, the largest English-speaking Caribbean island, with 2.6 million people, is among the top 10 countries for deportees, which tallies up to .9 percent, or 1,426 of the total number. Of these, 1,249 are criminals.

Gary Mead is the assistant director for management officer of detention and removal operations. He said that 2006 was a record year for removal of deportees. This year, he said, is on pace to exceed the previous year.

This is bad news for Jamaica. That’s because the country gets slightly more than the same number of prisoners released back into society each year, according to Barnes. In addition, she said one in 18 deportees is likely to be convicted of a crime, as opposed to one in 17 in the general population.

The Subcommittee scheduled a hearing on deportees to Latin America and the Caribbean to understand the deportation process and how it affects countries in the region and the United States, Subcommittee Chairman Eliot Engle said in his opening statement.

“I and others have told our friends in Latin America and the Caribbean that Congress will not be ending deportations any time soon,” said Engle. “The United States has no obligation to provide a residency for non-citizens who violate our laws.”

But Engle also acknowledges that the immigration laws “are having major consequences which Congress has not fully considered.”

Fragile countries

Human Rights Watch concurred and argued the U.S. removal policies are less humane than of its European counterparts. A Human Rights Watch spokesperson said families are ripped apart and the countries are given little notice or help to alleviate the crushing effects of the flood of deportees into already economically fragile countries.

Barnes, who testified for the CARICOM nations, also hammered that point. And other Jamaican officials were quick to credit the recent hearing to the June Conference on the Caribbean held in Washington D.C.

But observers say the hearing is the result of a larger issue: the immigration debate, a domestic issue that has captured the headlines. Although immigration has been a hot-button issue for a while, it was never listed as an agenda item at the Conference.

To also demonstrate where this issue falls among other matters, some say, the briefing on Capitol Hill had sparse attendance. Less than a third of the Subcommittee members attended.

Because the United States has a bicameral Congress, the Senate would have to approve the region’s request to alleviate the burden caused by America’s heavy-handed deportation policies. Even then, the outcome will ultimately be up to the administration and where it stands on this issue.

Despite the overwhelming odds to get the United States to budge on its deportation procedures, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas) said CARICOM heads of state were effective during their visit in June. Jackson-Lee showed her strong support by making a forceful statement on the record and her emphasizing her full cooperation to ensure a successful outcome.

In response to whether the issue would remain relevant given the plethora of issues Congress faces, including the Iraq war, the upcoming presidential elections and Darfur, Jackson-Lee, in a phone interview with The Weekly Gleaner, said, “The very fact that we gave notice to the issue I believe is an important first step and I am not one to give up.”