Deportees stranded!
No family, friends to meet some kicked out of the UK
A large crowd gathered yesterday outside Harmon Barracks at Mobile Reserve, family members among them, awaiting the release of just over 30 Jamaicans who were deported from the United Kingdom.
Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Area 4, Devon Watkis, told journalists at a press briefing on the compound that 32 Jamaicans, including six women, were sent back on a chartered flight. He said a woman, who was identified by the UK press only as ‘Sophia’, who had been separated from her three children since October, was not among those deported because of “litigating” issues.
The deportees arrived in the island shortly before 1:00 pm at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston where they were met by a team from the Jamaica Constabulary Force, the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency, a team from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a group from non-governmental organisations, before being transported to Harmon Barracks.
Yesterday, some family members waited with bated breath to see relatives, some of whom left the island as children, while others, who had no ties to the island, were met by hustlers waiting to provide phone calls and accommodation.
Sherene Dean-Collins, her son Laffihama Morgan and his infant son Raheem were among those waiting outside the facility where the deportees were being processed. The woman and her son were awaiting the release of her younger son, François Somers.
Dean-Collins told the Jamaica Observer that her son was being deported because of immigration issues. Those issues, the Observer learnt, involved domestic violence. Somers, 22, left Jamaica when he was eight years old.
“Mi nuh really feel nuh way about it. A fi dem country and a fi dem rights. Mi nuh really know how the immigration system stay so we have to just work with what dem do. Him never get a criminal case yet enuh but dem just a deport him,” Morgan said, adding that his main concern is that his brother does not know Jamaica.
Others who had no family members or friends to meet them were perplexed about their next move. Some were assisted by a woman who gave her name as ‘Tasha’. She told journalists that she has been assisting deportees for the past five years.
“Mi come over here come help dem when dem come. Mi give them a phone call so that dem relative can come pick dem up. Yuh affi help people because yuh nuh know what can reach you [as] a three children mi have,” she said.
Tasha, who lives across from Mobile Reserve, said her earnings from helping are on and off. She would not disclose how much she is paid for a call on her cellphone but said that “some come without a dollar” and she still allowed them to phone family members.
Several hustlers openly cursed journalists and camera crews, arguing that they were not getting any business because deportees were not stopping for fear of being captured on camera.
Several exited the processing centre with rags, towels, and shirts covering their faces, while some used the infamous chequered bags, carrying their belongings to hide their faces.
One woman, who had been in the UK for 16 years, while hiding her face, shouted that she was coming home to her “big house”. The woman said she was not successful in getting “straight” because her application had been denied several times. She added that the “customary” way of getting married to a citizen to then gain citizenship could not be done because she was already married. She left in a waiting motor car.
Meanwhile, several refused to leave the compound insisting that journalists had to first leave, while a handful strutted through the gates noting that they were not criminals and had nothing to be ashamed of.
The Observer asked one man if he was being treated satisfactorily while at the detention centre to which he responded, “I wasn’t there.” Asked where he was, he shouted “home” to the amusement of the crowd gathered.
ACP Watkis, who said that there was an initial projection of more than 32 Jamaicans, said that those being deported had committed criminal acts and immigration offences.
“Where it has become necessary to identify and ensure the monitoring of any individual, and that is determined based on the nature of the allegation against them, there are established processes both legal and law enforcement-initiated and in all instances they will and have been applied,” he said.
Up to press time, Watkis told the Observer that some were still being processed and that none had so far been identified with outstanding criminal records here.
May god help them to start over again . It’s good to always have a little money stash away in Jamaica or buy one old house or land while you live in foreign cause any game can play while we lived overseas. I wish them the best to moved on or get help from Jamaica government soon .
From which Jamaica government? Weh them did deh a Britain a do fi how much years them did a invest money here? College kids here need the help and not to mention the homeless and inner cities.
Help from which Jamaica government? Weh them did deh a Britain a do all these years, them invest anything here? Yuh know how much people here need help to go college and hungry belly poor ppl fi government help? Mek Elizabeth help them or send back them rass go give her.
Good luck to all of them as they start this new chapter in their lives. God bless all of them.
Same way suh anon we must remember seh some a wi nable string neva cut inna di people dem country suh anything a anything yah now
like I said before on a similar topic posted on pinkwall late last year, no sympathy for the stupid dark & illiterate ones who leave jamaica and go to theese countries with that macho/machismo,rudie,thuggist,shotta mentality or that thiefing/scamming mentality and thinks that theese countries are jamaica where you can bribe police when they come knocking or have some crooked politians in your pocket so you’re next to invincible or can even bribe the court system when get caught up in the judicial process so if get caught “everything criss” …… those idiots I have zero sympathy for,
but I have read articles in the star,gleanor & observer on similar topic and I’m flabbergasted at most of the comments by rather stupid people who paint deportees with a very broad brush, NOT EVERY DEPORTEE COMMITS A CRIMINAL ACT, IF SOMEONE LEGALLY ENTERS A COUNTRY AND OVERSTAYS(80% of the time for eeconomic reasons), THAT IS A CIVIL MATTER LIKE A LITTERING CITATION OR A TRAFFIC CITATION, NOT A CRIMINAL CRIMINAL MATTER, when that person is deported for visa violation or status realated issues they’re being painted with that broad brush as a criminal and being stigmatized by jamaican society and its unorthodox,inhumane and not fair, most of the people in jamaican society are one dimensional in their thinking, some even benefitted from some of theese people, when they were in the diaspora making money,even the jamaican government,
some of the same people who are now stigmatizing and ridiculing theese people are the “beg-a-ting” ones,
#Learn_Through_Observation
England is a cunt. Dem a try tek revenge thru the prison money ting but on the other hand as Jamaicans we affi be smart. Don’t invest inna another man country, memba dat. Mi love yard n comfortable and nah lef, but if by some strange miracle me migrate, every dollar mi earn mi a send fi put dung or invest inna summ’n out ya.
Every business weh yuh try a Jamaica family or friend dem rob yuh.Dem tell dem self seh yuh live a Farin suh yuh alright.
I thought that Jamaica was a sovereignty of the UK before they got their independent, so why is it so difficult for a Jamaican to become a citizen of the UK it shouldn’t be so difficult due to the ties that these two countries had… I have no sympathy for the real murderous criminals being sent back home, that should happen…. My problem is the people who hasn’t committed any crime and are trying to sort out their paper works that are being deported that is my problem… My next problem now is how Jamaica deal with these people coming back into the country the one’s that are not criminals and do not have family members help them get back on their feet… The should build homes a housing scheme for deportees not criminal minded deportees but the ones that truly are innocent of these raids of mass deportation, have something set up that they can go get meals, and get one job or something… Some families don’t want them more time because now they have no money to send them they are back home what use do they have for them now, sad but true… I know someone who got caught for drugs he did time and was released, the same weekend he goes to one girl house but the girl was upset that she found out about another woman she let him come in but that same weekend the immigration come knocking at her door, not sure what she said when she called them for them to come to her house because if they truly wanted him they could of picked him up in jail… two other woman visited him in jail and immigration did not show up and their house looking for him but he so stupid he think they were going down his visiting roaster but that and his family is not the case… He was lucky that he has a sister and a son who came to pick him up and now he lives with his sister and his trying everyday to find someone to give him money to come back to the states…
Build house for deportess and me deh yah a work nineteen how long and can’t even afford a nht house much less and every month over 20 grand is deducted from my salary fi tax. Sorry no help the working class middle and lower income people here first that want houses and cannot afford to buy any
Here what since you so concerned about their housing put them up noh, Jamaica have couple hundred thousand genuine homeless people whey them cannot feed or house but a deportee them whey deh a Farin a drink milk and honey our government fi tek my tax money build scheme fa.
Mi feel it still cah a coulda me but… nuff a dem throw stone behind dem an seh a farrin a dem yawd….plus jamaica cyah good again….one a mi fren just get deport 2 months and police kill hi already star…. a peer madness ago gwan cause nuff a dem naw go can manij suh dem ago do bad tings…..suh wait deh a dis dem di build di prision fah? it did plan long b4.
tears came to my eyes reading this and if anyone rejoice i plea the blood of Jesus against you! it is very sad whats going on in the world and we really need to pray and learn to uplift one another
The lady holding the lady by the neck can get IT!!I saw this on TV Last night n this yute claim his two brethrens get dip.One have 4 kids n the next one has 19 kids lef back a Uk.
Big up the lady who coming back to her big house.
I don’t understand some of these people… he was charged for domestic abuse, but yet still they thought he did nothing criminally. Whilst in Jamaica you can hit a woman and get away with it don’t try that shit in the U.K…. they are serious and the woman don’t even need to press charges for you to be tried
De girl girlie girlinade girlinade reached vest wicked eehh, look how she tun weh r head n mek r mada walk pass r n no realise say a r daughter cau she leave r whn she was 2yrs old , ungrateful pickney eesiii