Over 20 men were yesterday deported from the United States to Guyana.
The men touched down in a chartered World Atlantic MD-82 jet with a heavy security escort at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri at 2:39pm and were met by local law enforcement officials.
At the airport, some family members were waiting, believing that the men could be collected from there. They were informed that their relatives would have to be taken to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), at Eve Leary, to be processed and fingerprinted first.
The men went through necessary processing by US federal agents after arrival and were then handed over to Guyanese law enforcement. They were then transported by a 30-seater police bus, which was escorted by a police 4×4 vehicle with armed Tactical Services Unit (TSU) policemen, to CID headquarters.
The mother of one of the men expressed her frustration because she believed the men were being treated as criminals even after serving their respective sentences. “Why all the police with guns and so and the bus has to go on the tarmac for them? They can’t come out like regular people and can’t they process them here at the airport before they go?” she questioned.
“In the United States, when they serve their time, they are given their belongings and are free to go but I guess it’s because they are coming to a new country,” the relative of another man said.
However, the same man questioned if there were adequate systems in place to have the men integrated back into a Guyana society. “You have some of them I can bet their relatives do not know they are here in Guyana and there are others who have no relatives here. What happens to them?” he questioned.
“(Name Given) is lucky he has family here to support him but I am saddened when I think of others who left these shores so long it would not only be difficult for them to fit back in. They don’t know any of the people they are coming to,” he added.
In 2013, 21 persons were deported from the United States, while in 2014 there were 10.
