A Jamaican ex-cop who served in the United States army is calling for a classification of ‘deportees’ so that highly skilled persons like himself who have been deported to Jamaica can be reintegrated into the Jamaican society.

Charles Brown, a computer service technician and network administrator who also holds an associate degree in applied science computer programming, is currently enrolled at the University of Technology in a diploma programme in education.

Brown believes the Jamaican Government should conduct a study to examine how the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) of 1996 has impacted on the number of persons being deported from the United States.

The enactment of this Act on September 30, 1996 resulted in significant changes to existing US immigration laws.

Brown, who is regarded as a disabled US veteran following an injury received while preparing for the 1989 US invasion of Panama, explained that prior to this Act, lawful US residents would only be deported if they were sentenced to five or more years.

Now, under the IIRIRA, Brown said any sentence which exceeds a year is regarded as an aggravated felony and a deportable offence.

What were usually considered minor crimes such as petty theft, shoplifting and unpaid traffic tickets could now result in aggravated felony charges.

But Brown, who has lived in the US for 19 years, contends that many persons have not been able to reintegrate into the Jamaican society and to offer their skills and expertise because of the stigma of criminality associated with deportees.

“There are some deportees who have reintegrated into society and are doing well for themselves because we can survive, depending on our culture, but there are those who are not as educated, and with the deportation having such a great effect on them, some get insane and are sleeping on the streets,” he said.

According to Brown, there is one district in his home parish of St Thomas where there are over 20 deportees living problem-free.

“Some of them are driving robot taxis, some are barbers or farmers because they are afraid of the bullets from the police, because all the police want to hear is that ‘the deportee boy a give trouble’ and them going to kill them,” Brown said, adding “deportees are also afraid of mob killing because if someone just say ‘ah that deportee bwoy a do the robbery’, a mob is going to kill them.”

Brown insisted that a classification of deportees would determine the available skills and contribution that deported persons can make to the society. He said he intends to register a Deported Migrants Association which will act as a lobbying body to petition Government to address some of the issues affecting deportees.

“We are about 40,000 strong, and so we will help other deportees to get their identification and be able to get a job to match their skills when they come,” he said.

“I am a certified network administrator; I have an associate degree in applied science in computer programming, in addition to the diploma in education that I am now doing as well as my over 15 years’ experience but I can’t get a job because nobody wants to hire me,” he said.

Brown, who is completing his book Jamaican Deportees, has identified five categories of deportees, namely: those who are displaced, having left Jamaica as children; those who are desperate, having returned with no skills or possessions and cannot get meaningful employment; those who are damaged, who Brown says, are like himself — highly skilled but cannot fit into society because of the stigma; those living off the wealth they have amassed; and those who are considered dangerous.

Arguing that deportees without the necessary support may fall into a life of crime out of desperation, Brown pointed out that “they are desperate because they arrive in Jamaica with nothing but the clothes on their back, and for these people without any meaningful assistance, that is an avenue for committing crime, even though I don’t support it”.

According to Brown, it is estimated that Jamaica has 46,000 deportees, among them persons who have tertiary degrees, are highly skilled and are not criminals.

“They need to move on with their lives, but because of the stigma associated with deportees, when you go to certain place to apply for job they are now asking the question whether you have been deported,” he said.

“Do I look like a deportee?” Brown asked.

“Well, I am not sure what a deportee is supposed to look like,” this reporter responded.

“Well, I don’t hear that too often, because people tend to stereotype who a deportee is,” Brown said, adding that this is perpetuated by the police and Government alike.

Explaining how he ended up in this dreaded category, Brown said he was deported on a constitutional issue.

His troubles began in 1996 when he was convicted on an aggravated battery charge resulting from a dispute between himself and his spouse’s ex-husband.

He was placed on a two-year probation.

It was while he was on probation that the IIRIRA came into being.

But he said that did not have any bearing on him as he was able to travel between Jamaica and the US, at least five times.

While on probation, Brown said he was stopped at 2 o’clock one morning by the police who asked to speak with him. When he declined to talk with the cop after being told he was not under arrest, he was arrested for resisting arrest without violence and his Lexus vehicle taken to the police station on the assumption that it was stolen.

He said when he went to retrieve his car it was badly damaged as it appeared the police were searching for drugs or money.

Following this, he was taken into custody for violation of probation after he threatened a case against the State, and was kept in jail for four months before he was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment for resisting arrest and 46 months for violating probation.

He was, however, released from prison two years later for good behaviour and sent to the immigration and customs enforcement division.

Having served more than a year in prison, he was ordered deported.

But Brown claimed this was done without him getting a chance to have his case heard in the courts. A similar fate, he said, is being met by a lot of other Jamaicans in the US.

“We have legitimate issues to fight our cases but they don’t give us the time and they do that mostly to Jamaicans, and I believe that is because of our crime and violence problem,” he said.

However, he has high hopes that his conviction will be overturned, despite having spent thousands of dollars already on legal representation.

He hopes his book, set for release early next year, will also be an eye-opener and one which will cause the Barack Obama administration to revisit the IIRIRA.

But until this is done, Brown said he is not going to allow the stigma of deportation to prevent him from contributing to Jamaica.

“I am not afraid or ashamed, so you can put my picture on the Observer front page because it is the US that is wrong against me,” he said.

In July, the Jamaican Government officially opened a $22-million visitors’ centre and halfway house, the Howard Hostel, which will help in the rehabilitation of deportees and inmates of the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre in Kingston.

The hostel was constructed under a British-backed project aimed at improving rehabilitation and reintegration of criminal offenders and deportees in an effort to decrease the island’s out-of-control crime rate.

The hostel, which is located opposite the Tower Street Correctional Centre, will house 40 inmates who are eligible for parole or are near the end of lengthy sentences.

Persons who have been convicted of crimes and deported from the United Kingdom and other first world countries will also have access to the hostel to help them get ready for life in Jamaica.

CAPTION

Charles Brown explains why it is necessary for classification of deportees.

(Photo: Joseph Wellington)