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$870,000 Risk
Deportees pay dearly for passage back to US
BY INGRID BROWN Sunday Observer senior reporter browni@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Jamaicans deported from the United States have been braving turbulent seas and dangerous 'underground' trails in some instances to return to that country, paying as much as US$10,000 (approximately J$870,000) for the risk.
HINDS... persons will travel on a vessel taking drugs from Jamaica to the Bahamas for about US$5,000
A Sunday Observer probe has uncovered that hardened criminals, deported from the US for serious drug offences and vicious murders, have re-entered America in a matter of weeks, despite several initiatives by that country to monitor its borders.
Not only are Jamaicans being smuggled through Caribbean islands like the Bahamas, but they have also identified new routes to the US through Mexico and, to a lesser extent, Canada and Switzerland, the Sunday Observer investigation further revealed.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Glenmore Hinds confirmed that the Bahamas provides an easy access route into the US for such persons.
"At least US$10,000 can get you there... because persons will travel on a vessel taking drugs from Jamaica to the Bahamas for about US$5,000 and then the remainder will get them into the US," he explained.
But Jamaica's police are unable to say just how widespread this lucrative 'migrant smuggling' trade is, since they are not aware when 'deportees' have re-entered the US until they are caught and sent back home.
ACP Hinds noted, however, that it is not difficult to leave Jamaica undetected due to the large number of beaches, fishing villages and operators of both registered and unregistered boats here.
This 'migrant smuggling' trade continues despite the US Coast Guard maintaining constant coverage throughout the coastal waters, employing large cutters, patrol boats, small boats and aircraft.
But this is no deterrent to persons who are willing to risk it all to return to a life of fast money, fuelled by the lucrative drug trade.
One such Jamaican is Tony, who asked that his full name not be revealed. He would only speak to the Sunday Observer via the cellphone of a contact with whom this reporter met in a small coffee shop in New York.
He speaks in codes throughout the interview, noting that in his "line of business one can never be too careful and must always assume others are listening".
The 34-year-old father of four American-born children is living large in California from all indications, having bought cars and houses for his children's mother.
There is no talk of a retirement in Jamaica as his sights are set on living in the US for years to come.
And if he were to be deported again, he is prepared to re-enter as he did the last two times.
Eighteen years ago, he was sent to prison following a massive drug bust and was later deported.
But not even the horrific experiences of being stabbed and beaten almost to death while in prison could deter him three months later from boarding a small fishing boat from the Bahamas to Miami.
According to Tony, Jamaicans like himself never appeal their deportation orders, opting instead to be sent home immediately, as they know they can return to the US quicker than the time it takes for the appeal process to go through the courts.
"It no tek no weak heart fi do what I do because sometime some of the same man dem weh a help yu come cross gwaan like dem waan hold yu at ransom when yu deh out deh a sea and a demand more money from yu," he said.
The second time he returned to Jamaica he was not deported, but had fled when he thought a dragnet was closing in on him.
He spent a year "cooling off" here and in 2005 returned to the US via Mexico.
"Dat a de route weh really rough because dem man de no easy and dem gwaan like dem we waan hold on to yu documents and demand more money, but dem no know seh Jamaicans a no idiot cause we no use we real papers," he said with a chuckle.
Now when he parties with bottles of Moet champagne he is ever conscious it might be the last splurge. However, he is just as confident that once he is not behind bars he can always return to the lucrative drug trade in the bustling Hollywood district.
Security attaché at the Jamaican Embassy in Washington, DC, Clifford Chambers, said persons have been known to return to the US as early as two months after they have been deported.
"The issue of re-entry is relatively widespread, and yes, some Jamaicans are going through Mexico, Canada and Bahamas," he told the Sunday Observer during an interview at his office in Dupont Circle, Washington, DC a week ago.
"They need to have money and also be physically fit to travel the route because they are sometimes left at a certain point and have to find their way across the border," he said.
Chambers said persons smuggled into the US also have to be tough, as those facilitating the entry may withhold their documents until they are paid more money.
He explained that not all deported persons who re-enter are drug dealers. Some are people who find it hard to cope with the separation from family and the lifestyle to which they have grown accustomed.
Deported persons are, however, treated more severely when apprehended as they are prosecuted for re-entry.
Chambers said some persons are apprehended because they usually return to the same residence, while others are caught when they are stopped for minor traffic offences.
"The number of persons apprehended has increased significantly because of new Homeland Security measures, but you will find that the more you send back the more persons will try to return," he said.
Statistics from his office show that 14,884 Jamaicans were deported from the US between 2001 and July this year. It is anyone's guess how many have returned to the US.
The US's new biometric identification system is said to be preventing scores of Jamaicans from re-entering with forged documents.
Matthew Chandler, acting deputy press secretary in the Department of Homeland Security, said the multi-layered security system - of which biometric identification is one layer - has been effectively preventing criminals and immigration violators, such as deportees, from obtaining a US visa or entering the country.
The identification process, which includes the collection of fingerprints, is in place at all international US airports, seaports and in the secondary inspection areas of land border ports of entry.
Chandler told the Sunday Observer that since 2006, the US Coast Guard have been using US-VISIT's biometric services to identify illegal migrants apprehended at sea off Puerto Rico and in the Florida Straits.
"The use of biometrics enables the Coast Guard to identify repeat offenders in real time using a mobile biometric device," he explained.
Asked whether Jamaica has a responsibility to ensure that deportees do not return to the countries from which they are expelled, ACP Hinds said "no".
Jamaica, he explained, has no legal authority to monitor the movement of deportees except when they pose a threat to public safety. This usually applies to persons who have committed multiple violent offences.
Statistics show that 70 per cent of persons deported are for criminal offences and 30 per cent for non-criminal offences.
Asked if the police knew when Islamic cleric Abdullah al-Faisal, who was deported from the United Kingdom for allegedly inciting racial hatred, left Jamaica for South Africa, Hinds was only prepared to say they knew the minute he bought his ticket.
Dr Basil Wilson, dean of criminal justice at Monroe College and former provost and senior vice-president of academic affairs at John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York, said deportees are finding it harder to re-enter the US with forged documents and now utilising more ingenious ways of re-entering.
"There is always going to be a level of skulduggery, but what exists now is minuscule to what existed before," he said. "Once illegal immigrants could move easily back and forth from the US as they would simply acquire a US birth certificate and pass themselves off as an American citizen."
Ambassador Curtis Ward, who is also an international lawyer, said the loopholes which exist for deportees to return to the US include light aircraft using illegal airstrips; migrant smuggling operations, some of which are very sophisticated; corrupt officials who may facilitate the travel in one way or the other; use of fraudulent travel documents; boats from the Bahamas and Haiti.
He said that although the US Coast Guard have done a fairly good job of monitoring the vast coastal waters, no coastline can be fully monitored 24 hours a day for 365 days.
"Smugglers are pretty smart and will find ways to get through the Coast Guard patrol... it is not impregnable," said Ward who argued that the co-operation and collaboration of the countries from which the illegal immigrants are leaving are essential to success on the US side.
He acknowledged, however, that those countries must have the capacity in order to provide the appropriate level of co-operation.
$870,000 Risk
Deportees pay dearly for passage back to US
BY INGRID BROWN Sunday Observer senior reporter browni@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Jamaicans deported from the United States have been braving turbulent seas and dangerous 'underground' trails in some instances to return to that country, paying as much as US$10,000 (approximately J$870,000) for the risk.
HINDS... persons will travel on a vessel taking drugs from Jamaica to the Bahamas for about US$5,000
A Sunday Observer probe has uncovered that hardened criminals, deported from the US for serious drug offences and vicious murders, have re-entered America in a matter of weeks, despite several initiatives by that country to monitor its borders.
Not only are Jamaicans being smuggled through Caribbean islands like the Bahamas, but they have also identified new routes to the US through Mexico and, to a lesser extent, Canada and Switzerland, the Sunday Observer investigation further revealed.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Glenmore Hinds confirmed that the Bahamas provides an easy access route into the US for such persons.
"At least US$10,000 can get you there... because persons will travel on a vessel taking drugs from Jamaica to the Bahamas for about US$5,000 and then the remainder will get them into the US," he explained.
But Jamaica's police are unable to say just how widespread this lucrative 'migrant smuggling' trade is, since they are not aware when 'deportees' have re-entered the US until they are caught and sent back home.
ACP Hinds noted, however, that it is not difficult to leave Jamaica undetected due to the large number of beaches, fishing villages and operators of both registered and unregistered boats here.
This 'migrant smuggling' trade continues despite the US Coast Guard maintaining constant coverage throughout the coastal waters, employing large cutters, patrol boats, small boats and aircraft.
But this is no deterrent to persons who are willing to risk it all to return to a life of fast money, fuelled by the lucrative drug trade.
One such Jamaican is Tony, who asked that his full name not be revealed. He would only speak to the Sunday Observer via the cellphone of a contact with whom this reporter met in a small coffee shop in New York.
He speaks in codes throughout the interview, noting that in his "line of business one can never be too careful and must always assume others are listening".
The 34-year-old father of four American-born children is living large in California from all indications, having bought cars and houses for his children's mother.
There is no talk of a retirement in Jamaica as his sights are set on living in the US for years to come.
And if he were to be deported again, he is prepared to re-enter as he did the last two times.
Eighteen years ago, he was sent to prison following a massive drug bust and was later deported.
But not even the horrific experiences of being stabbed and beaten almost to death while in prison could deter him three months later from boarding a small fishing boat from the Bahamas to Miami.
According to Tony, Jamaicans like himself never appeal their deportation orders, opting instead to be sent home immediately, as they know they can return to the US quicker than the time it takes for the appeal process to go through the courts.
"It no tek no weak heart fi do what I do because sometime some of the same man dem weh a help yu come cross gwaan like dem waan hold yu at ransom when yu deh out deh a sea and a demand more money from yu," he said.
The second time he returned to Jamaica he was not deported, but had fled when he thought a dragnet was closing in on him.
He spent a year "cooling off" here and in 2005 returned to the US via Mexico.
"Dat a de route weh really rough because dem man de no easy and dem gwaan like dem we waan hold on to yu documents and demand more money, but dem no know seh Jamaicans a no idiot cause we no use we real papers," he said with a chuckle.
Now when he parties with bottles of Moet champagne he is ever conscious it might be the last splurge. However, he is just as confident that once he is not behind bars he can always return to the lucrative drug trade in the bustling Hollywood district.
Security attaché at the Jamaican Embassy in Washington, DC, Clifford Chambers, said persons have been known to return to the US as early as two months after they have been deported.
"The issue of re-entry is relatively widespread, and yes, some Jamaicans are going through Mexico, Canada and Bahamas," he told the Sunday Observer during an interview at his office in Dupont Circle, Washington, DC a week ago.
"They need to have money and also be physically fit to travel the route because they are sometimes left at a certain point and have to find their way across the border," he said.
Chambers said persons smuggled into the US also have to be tough, as those facilitating the entry may withhold their documents until they are paid more money.
He explained that not all deported persons who re-enter are drug dealers. Some are people who find it hard to cope with the separation from family and the lifestyle to which they have grown accustomed.
Deported persons are, however, treated more severely when apprehended as they are prosecuted for re-entry.
Chambers said some persons are apprehended because they usually return to the same residence, while others are caught when they are stopped for minor traffic offences.
"The number of persons apprehended has increased significantly because of new Homeland Security measures, but you will find that the more you send back the more persons will try to return," he said.
Statistics from his office show that 14,884 Jamaicans were deported from the US between 2001 and July this year. It is anyone's guess how many have returned to the US.
The US's new biometric identification system is said to be preventing scores of Jamaicans from re-entering with forged documents.
Matthew Chandler, acting deputy press secretary in the Department of Homeland Security, said the multi-layered security system - of which biometric identification is one layer - has been effectively preventing criminals and immigration violators, such as deportees, from obtaining a US visa or entering the country.
The identification process, which includes the collection of fingerprints, is in place at all international US airports, seaports and in the secondary inspection areas of land border ports of entry.
Chandler told the Sunday Observer that since 2006, the US Coast Guard have been using US-VISIT's biometric services to identify illegal migrants apprehended at sea off Puerto Rico and in the Florida Straits.
"The use of biometrics enables the Coast Guard to identify repeat offenders in real time using a mobile biometric device," he explained.
Asked whether Jamaica has a responsibility to ensure that deportees do not return to the countries from which they are expelled, ACP Hinds said "no".
Jamaica, he explained, has no legal authority to monitor the movement of deportees except when they pose a threat to public safety. This usually applies to persons who have committed multiple violent offences.
Statistics show that 70 per cent of persons deported are for criminal offences and 30 per cent for non-criminal offences.
Asked if the police knew when Islamic cleric Abdullah al-Faisal, who was deported from the United Kingdom for allegedly inciting racial hatred, left Jamaica for South Africa, Hinds was only prepared to say they knew the minute he bought his ticket.
Dr Basil Wilson, dean of criminal justice at Monroe College and former provost and senior vice-president of academic affairs at John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York, said deportees are finding it harder to re-enter the US with forged documents and now utilising more ingenious ways of re-entering.
"There is always going to be a level of skulduggery, but what exists now is minuscule to what existed before," he said. "Once illegal immigrants could move easily back and forth from the US as they would simply acquire a US birth certificate and pass themselves off as an American citizen."
Ambassador Curtis Ward, who is also an international lawyer, said the loopholes which exist for deportees to return to the US include light aircraft using illegal airstrips; migrant smuggling operations, some of which are very sophisticated; corrupt officials who may facilitate the travel in one way or the other; use of fraudulent travel documents; boats from the Bahamas and Haiti.
He said that although the US Coast Guard have done a fairly good job of monitoring the vast coastal waters, no coastline can be fully monitored 24 hours a day for 365 days.
"Smugglers are pretty smart and will find ways to get through the Coast Guard patrol... it is not impregnable," said Ward who argued that the co-operation and collaboration of the countries from which the illegal immigrants are leaving are essential to success on the US side.
He acknowledged, however, that those countries must have the capacity in order to provide the appropriate level of co-operation.