PM Gonsalves concerned about criminal history of US deportees

Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves says the United States has not informed his government of plans to deport any Vincentian as part of US President Donald Trump’s clamp down on illegal immigrants.

Gonsalves, however, said his government is concerned that the United States does not supply the country to which it deports people with information about the deportees’ criminal and other history.

Speaking on NBC Radio on Wednesday, the prime minister noted a country’s right to deport people and the obligation of the country in which the deportee has citizenship to accept them.

A document circulating on the internet purportedly from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) says that as of Nov. 24, 2024, there were 1,445,549 noncitizens on ICE’s non-detained docket with final orders of removal.

The list includes 127 Vincentians.

“We have heard the announcements by the new administration of President Trump and we have seen things circulating, coming from different sources, that 100-and-something people from St. Vincent they’re going to be sent home and so on. We have not received anything formal about that,” Gonsalves said.

He noted that any country, within the framework of its domestic law and in accord with international law and best practices, can refuse entry to or deport people the country considers “undesirable”.

“The second proposition is that a country like St. Vincent and the Grenadines is obliged to receive from another country its nationals who are being deported and who, as I said, are deported in accordance with domestic processes, legal processes, in accord with international law and best practices.”.

Gonsalves, however, said the country that is doing the deportation will have to pay attention to international law and best practices.

“For instance, if you detain somebody for deportation, you detain them in circumstances which do not offend … international humanitarian law. There’s a certain basic minimum of treatment which you have to accord them,” Gonsalves said.

He said the difficulty that SVG and other CARICOM member states have had and have represented to various administrations in Washington is that the US does not tell the receiving country about their citizen’s antecedents.

“You may deport somebody, let’s say somebody who is in jail for burglary, they finish their sentence, or even if you commute their sentence for deportation, you send them home, all the information we have is that John Brown was serving five years for burglary, armed robbery, or whatever it is.

“But we do not know the history of this person: how long that person was in the United States of America, … his or her skills, educational attainment, what is his or her criminal record…”

Gonsalves said this information is important because deportees have to be reintegrated into their countries. 

“When that person arrives at Argyle International Airport, our security forces may hold that person for a short period of time to question that person…”

The prime minister, who is also minister of national security and legal affairs, however, noted that the person is not obliged to answer any questions.

He further noted that since the person is not charged locally with any criminal offence, the police can detain them only for a very limited period.

“Sometimes those persons don’t even have any family to go to — identifiable family. You have to put them up at the government’s expense for a short period of time until they can be properly settled. So, we would like to see that information is provided to us about these individuals.”

The prime minister noted that SVG is a small country, adding, “Could you imagine if you send home to St. Vincent, 50 persons who are criminally minded or in some cases, might be psychopaths?”

He said he did not know about “the peculiarities between the United States and Colombia, or between the United States and Mexico.

“And we have read about those in the media,” he said, apparently referring to the tensions between Bogota and Washington after Colombia initially refused to accept military flights of its citizens who were deported from the United States. 

“I can only speak in relation to St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” Gonsalves said, adding that he was sure that CARICOM leaders would discuss the matter at their summit in Barbados next month.

“Of course, heads and other officials are communicating with one another on this particular subject, naturally. You’ll be silly not to be communicating and either at the political level, or both cases at the level of officials who would have to administer any particular matter arising from any possible deportation.”