DEPORTEES: PROPORTIONALLY, GUYANA DEPORTS MORE

UNCLAS GEORGETOWN 000642 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: CVIS SMIG PREL CASC GY SUBJECT: DEPORTEES: PROPORTIONALLY, GUYANA DEPORTS MORE AMCITS ¶1. The issue of deportation was raised by President Bharrat Jagdeo and other heads of government at the Conference on the Caribbean. Caribbean interest in deportation is normally presented as a concern over the impact on small nations of the large number of deportees they must absorb. However, Guyanese and Caricom officials occasionally insinuate that the U.S. unfairly targets the Guyanese or Caribbean population for deportation. Although not statistically significant, a quick examination of the numbers shows that the proportion of American citizens expelled by Guyana is significantly higher than the proportion of Guyanese deported by the United States. ¶2. Between June 2006 and May 2007, the USG deported 223 Guyanese citizens back to Guyana, or 0.10% of the 210,000 Guyanese-born persons living in the U.S. Of these 223 deportations, 31% were for immigration violations, 26% had been convicted of drug crimes, 19% had been convicted for felony robbery/burglary/larceny/weapons/assault, and 11% had been convicted of sexual assault/rape. ¶3. In the same time period, Guyana expelled three U.S. citizens, or 0.15% of the approximately 2000 American citizens living here. One was expelled after serving a sentence for cocaine possession, the other two were expelled for immigration violations. The other major difference is that the GoG did not purchase plane tickets for the American citizens. Rather, the GoG incarcerated the three AmCits until they (normally with Embassy assistance) were able to purchase their own plane tickets. Robinson