KICKED OUT: ICE Removes Thousands of Caribbean Nationals From U.S.

Thousands of Caribbean nationals were again forcibly removed from the United States as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continues to crack down on undocumented residents and non-citizen criminals.

However, ICE statistics also showed that despite an uptick in total removals for fiscal year 2018, there was a dramatic reduction in Caribbean nationals kicked out of the U.S. when compared to the previous year.

The law enforcement agency sent 4,523 persons back to the Caribbean last year, out of a total of 256,085 removed. That was roughly half the number of Caribbean nationals removed from the U.S. in fiscal year 2017.

 Haiti was responsible for the largest single drop. In 2017, 5,578 of 9,066 Caribbean nationals removed from the U.S. were Haitians. Last year, 934 were sent back to the French-speaking Caribbean nation.

Meanwhile, just over 200 less nationals of the Dominican Republic were sent home in 2017 and 24 less to Trinidad and Tobago.

In 2018, nationals of the Dominican Republic were fifth among the most removals with 1,769, followed by Haiti, Jamaica (792) and Cuba (463).

Some 142 Guyanese were returned home, followed by 104 to T&T, 101 to The Bahamas and 91 to Belize.

St. Lucia was responsible for 28 nationals removed, Antigua and Barbuda for 24, 19 for Dominica, 17 for Barbados and 15 for St. Kitts and Nevis.

A combined 24 nationals were returned to Grenada (nine), Bermuda (five), Turks and Caicos Islands (four), Netherland Antilles (two), and Aruba, British Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe and Montserrat one each.

Mexico was responsible for the most removals with 141,045 in 2018, followed by Guatemala (50,390), Honduras (28,894) and El Salvador (15,445).

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The overall number of removals in 2018 was 29,966 more than the previous year. Some Caribbean nations recorded higher removal numbers last year than in 2017. Jamaica, for example, was responsible for 782 nationals sent home in 2017. Some 160 Cuban nationals were returned to the Spanish-speaking country that year.

To accommodate those being removed from the U.S., some Caribbean countries have set up programs to support returning nationals. Last month, for example, Jamaica’s Ministry of National Security announced that, through its Involuntary Returned Migrants (IRM) program, which was set up in 2008, it will “ensure that those IRMs who are not received by family and friends are also adequately supported with food, shelter, clothing, employment and education opportunities.”

According to ICE, its Enforcement and Renewal Operations “identifies, arrests, and removes aliens who present a danger to national security or a threat to public safety, or who otherwise undermine border control and the integrity of the U.S. immigration system.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Citizens and Immigration Services work with ICE for enforcing and administering U.S. immigration laws. Its statistics show an increase in arrests in recent years. According to ICE, it “made 15,111 more administrative arrests” in fiscal year 2018 than the previous year, which represented a 30 percent uptick over 2016.

Crimes leading to arrests ranged from traffic offenses (driving under the influence), to drugs, fraud, sex offenses, theft, kidnapping and homicide.