get these nets
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Podcast of Ernesto Cooke, writer for the St. Vincent Times
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CARICOM must prepare for deportees
02/15/25Soon after being sworn into office for the second time, US President Donald Trump began delivering on his campaign promise of cracking down on illegal immigration by ordering mass deportation flights, and Caribbean nations have been closely monitoring developments.
According to a document released in November 2024 by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), 97,148 Caribbean nationals were identified as part of its Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) initiative. As of the date of the ICE’s communiqué, there were 1,445,549 non-citizens on its non-detained docket with final orders of removal; people from Caribbean countries accounted for 6.72 per cent of the list.
The regional nations with the highest number of deportees on the list were Cuba (42,084), Haiti (32,363), and the Dominican Republic (12,699). Jamaica topped the list of English-speaking Caribbean countries with 5,120, followed by Guyana (1,236) and Trinidad and Tobago (1,197).
Towards the end of January, two Caribbean Community (CARICOM) diplomats — Antigua’s ambassador to the US, Sir Ronald Sanders and Barbados’s ambassador to CARICOM, David Commissiong — advised that regional governments should prepare for an influx of deportees
“Absorbing large numbers of deportees suddenly can have a disrupting effect on the social services of CARICOM governments, particularly in relation to healthcare and education. The additional strain could exacerbate unemployment and, potentially, contribute to a rise in crime rates,” Sanders wrote in his syndicated column at the weekend. “These are all factors that will have to be monitored closely, and appropriate representation made to the US government if the problems become unmanageable.”
Commissiong, also a key member of the Barbados Reparations Commission, echoed similar remarks urging governments not to be bystanders as deportation exercises are ramped up.
“CARICOM countries have to be concerned because the US has been a prime migration destination for our people, and there are many CARICOM citizens or people of CARICOM ancestry in the US. So, I think that beyond just concern, I think our countries would be well advised to be proactive and to put some contingency plans in place. If, as seems likely, significant numbers of our people will be deported back home, we have to be prepared for that. So, we need to give some thoughts on how we respond and how we would be able to help,” Commisssiong told the Today online publication.
So far, no significant deportee numbers have been reported in the region as the federal agency, ICE, says it is concentrating on criminal deportees for now even as large numbers of West Indians in Queens and other regional enclaves are staying away from work and from socializing for fear of being picked up by agents
Commissioning argues that an upcoming summit of regional leaders in mid-February should provide the ideal chance for a standard policy and approach to involuntary returning residents, saying that by then, the situation should have become even more apparent.
“I would imagine by then a pattern should have emerged as to exactly how severe the Trump deportation policy would be in relation to CARICOM countries. The summit would be a good opportunity for all of the prime ministers, the foreign ministers, and attorneys general to come to grips with this and discuss it among themselves,” he stated