Just a storm in a teacup

That this individual is to be suddenly taken seriously since winning the election, yet was seen as a ranting circus clown earlier and never taken seriously, indeed reflects the prejudices and illiteracy which permeate not only large sections of the US population, but to a large extent locals.

After having the misfortune of enduring misleading information being spewed by people who repeat the garbage about millions of immigrants being deported, I can say without fear or favour that this is just another storm in a teacup.

And of course in the midst there are the few conmen who will see this as an ideal opportunity to call for more “government intervention”, namely more funding to pursue their personal agendas under the umbrella of missions and visions.

Armchair criminologists and political pundits, who are evidently clueless as is demonstrated with crime plan after crime plan, seem hell-bent on creating panic where none is warranted over the deportation of criminals; another example of selling fear to the masses to benefit a few.

As a self-anointed, pseudo-professional, and someone extremely familiar with crime, criminology, and the deportation process, deportation has a long and complicated history. People are deported to their respective homelands, repatriated if you may, for numerous reasons.

However, most of these people are not “criminals”. The bulk of them merely overstayed their welcome and were sent back when discovered.

Let’s perhaps begin to acknowledge that people migrate for numerous reasons; most are in search of a “better life”, and “greater opportunities”, or some similar reason. There are also people from other jurisdictions fleeing oppression and persecution and fall into the category of “refugees”.

They warrant a separate discussion.

Nonetheless, people who migrate usually belong to the middle and lower social classes of the society from which they migrate.

The well-to-do in these societies travel and return at their whim and fancy.

I recall many mothers travelling to the US in the 1970s and 1980s.

Many overstayed their visas, worked as domestic help, only to later have someone “file their papers”, paving the way for thousands of today’s youth to earn their “green card”, and hence having more options.

To refer to such people as criminals is unreasonable.

This is not to dismiss the fact that there were/are people who also engaged in criminal activities. But they are few and far in-between.

To make out as if the sky is falling – again – as the Finance Minister did on entering office, is evidently a distraction. Deportation usually takes place every month from the US and other countries, mostly England and Canada.

That the US just happens to deport more people simply reflects that more people travel to the US.

Deportation falls under the ambit of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) which falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security, and not the Office of the President.

For people convicted of crimes, deportation usually takes place after individuals serve out their sentences.

They are then turned over to ICE and taken before an immigration court. Since 911 the US has clamped down on virtually all illegal activities and as such has made numerous misdemeanour arrests.

With a zero tolerance on crime, many people have been deported during this process.

All are not criminals.

Being caught in a routine traffic exercise and unable to produce proper identification often results in deportation.

Of greater concern to the pundits, armchair criminologists and other stakeholders would be to examine the current crime phenomenon in an objective, professional manner instead of chanting “the criminals are coming.” If similar concerns about deportees had be shared about the “drugs and the guns coming,” perhaps, just perhaps, we might not have reached this point where today our families are insecure.

RUDY CHATO PAUL, SR D’Abadie