STEVE Burns, first secretary for migration at the British High Commission in Jamaica, says that efforts to help reintegrate Jamaicans who have either been deported or ‘removed’ from countries abroad are being hampered by the difficulties associated with getting identification documents for these persons.

“The biggest challenge here is to get their ID sorted out, because they come down without identity documents. They come down with an emergency travel document issued by the Government; whether the Americans, ourselves or the Canadians or whoever is deporting them back. But that doesn’t help them get their bank account or a reference letter, and JPs (Justices of the Peace) are very reluctant to help because they say ‘I don’t know this person’,” Burns told the Jamaica Observer in a recent interview.

“It’s a big challenge because they don’t really have anything to say this is who I am. So how do they get a driver’s licence or open a bank account? All of those things are difficult to achieve,” he said.

“We have asked and lobbied for some progress on identity issues for people coming back and what we were hoping is that the emergency travel document people come back, with — given that it’s issued by the Jamaican High Commission in London — it’s not issued by us, [could be used initially]. So if the Jamaican authorities are content with regard to the identity of a person for removal, why can’t they not let that document form the basis of that person being able to use it as an initial document for identity,” he said.

According to Burns, if this issue was resolved it would make the Rehabilitation and Integration Programme of the commission far easier. He said the programme which involves a collection of projects began in 2008 and aims at assisting all persons sent back to the island.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s Britain or America you get sent back from. From the perspective of the UK (United Kingdom) taxpayer they would say we need to focus on the deportees from Britain, but we don’t see it that way. The programme has a helpline and most of the calls are from persons deported from US,” Burns told the Observer.

In the meantime, he said finding employment continues to be a concern.

“I would like to appeal to every prospective employer in the private sector to give a second chance to persons who have been removed to Jamaica, to give them a chance to get back into a career and to get safely back into society. Without employment, frankly, either it will be a severe financial burden on the family or they will be tempted to re-offend or travel illegally,” the migration first secretary pointed out.

“Persons have a policy where they don’t easily employ persons who come back to Jamaica, even with a spent criminal record or as a deported migrant. The person might be highly qualified, skilled and have the mindset to say ‘OK I am going to make the best of the second chance in Jamaica’ but they still have to get over the hurdle of stigmatisation and bureaucracy,” he noted.

Burns was also at pains to point out that a number of people who come down with a deportee tag just overstayed a visa or may have been working illegally.

“They are not really what we would call a serial criminal or a harm to society, they are just trying to make a life and find themselves on the wrong side of the immigration legislation and found themselves removed back down here, but from the Jamaican public perspective they are deportees,” he said, noting that the numbers when collated were ‘half-and-half’ (half deported, half removed).

The Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) in its 2011 Economic and Social Survey for Jamaica, tabled in Parliament in May, reported that there has been a decline in the number of Jamaicans being deported from abroad. According to the PIOJ, the numbers dropped from 2,825 in 2010, to 2,629 in 2011. It said deportees returned for convictions were mostly in the ‘overstay’, ‘illegal entry or re-entry’ categories, and possession of drugs — 40.9 per cent and 31.8 per cent respectively.

While there was a decline overall in deportees to Jamaica, there were increases in deportees from the United States and Canada, 0.6 and 19.6 per cent, respectively.