AS MANY AS 26 BARBADIANS could be deported from the United States by yearend, says Dr Brent Hardt, Chargé d’Affaires of the United States Embassy here.If all are sent packing from American jails and detention centres this year, that would bring the number of people returned here to 373 since 2000.Hardt said he could not give a breakdown of the crimes of each individual, but stated that they would range from crimes “in the traditional sense” to immigration violations.“For Barbados, now in custody pending there is a total of 12 of which seven have a criminal related background and five have non-criminal, like immigration violations. In custody being processed there are 14 total – 13 criminal, one non-criminal,” Hardt said in a telephone interview.He explained that in custody pending means that the individuals are awaiting travel documents, or are being processed to go. He said a travel document is needed for someone to head back and that can sometimes take a while. As for in custody FO (being processed), it means they are waiting for a final determination of their status.The diplomat said this number was in line with the average number of people deported annually to Barbados over the last several years, but stated he did not think this was a large figure given that they are 25 000 to 30 000 Barbadian immigrants in the United States.“You have to look at deportation in the context of immigration. Barbados and other countries in the Caribbean have always enjoyed high rates of immigration to the United States. Typically every year we process 2 000 to 3 000 immigrant visas. We also process 40 000 non-immigrant visas. These are from Barbados and the seven Eastern Caribbean territories that this embassy serves.“The only reason that you have deportees is because you have very open immigration to the United States. That is a piece of this discussion which has generated more heat than light over the years,” Hardt said.Stressing that deportation is a small by-product of that open immigration system, the diplomat said that “you can’t just look at the people coming back, you have to look at them in the broader flow of people between our countries”.He stated that in every population there are a small group that would get involved with crime and “forfeit their right to status in the United States”, but the majority of immigrants are upstanding citizens. (SP)
