Hundreds of Liberians Awaiting Deportation For Crimes Committed in the U.S.
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Hundreds of Liberians Awaiting Deportation For Crimes Committed in the U.S.
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Toronto – Several officials in the Liberian government could find themselves being denied entry visas into the United States of America in the wake of a lingering deportation issue that has seen the U.S. take stern action against the West African state of The Gambia.
Report Rodney D. Sieh, rodney.sieh@frontpageafricaonline.com
“I cannot confirm if the US has any plans to deny visas to Liberian government officials; at least the Liberian Embassy has not been alerted on this.
With regards to the removal of undesirable Liberians from USA and Canada, we have an official number of 53 Liberians that are currently being processed, as far as, our agreement with both US and Canadian Immigration authorities have been concluded”
– Jeremiah Sulunteh, Liberian Ambassador to the U.S.
The U.S. took a decision on October 1, 2016 that it would no longer issue new visas to officials of the Gambian government, their spouses or children, due to a longstanding dispute over President Yahya Jammeh’s government’s refusal to accept Gambian citizens being deported from the U.S.
Similarly, FrontPageAfrica has learned from multiple diplomatic sources in both the U.S. and Canada that nearly 2,000 Liberians are awaiting deportation in both Canada and the United States of America.
FrontPage Africa has reliably learned that some 1,500 Liberians awaiting deportation in the United States while another 60 in Canada are awaiting deportation to Liberia.
“The challenge is we have to move it. The U.S. State Department has been working with us to see how this can be resolved but time is running out,” a diplomatic source in Washington told FrontPageAfrica last weekend.
“The Canadian government, too, have a certain number they want us to get out as well. It is a threat to countries that are not moving their people out of the system in America and Canada. We need to remove them.”
The source added that the problem began development as far back as when the current nominee for the U.S. Presidency, Hilary Rodham Clinton was Secretary of State.
“When Clinton was in office, there were serious discussions between our two governments to ensure that we do not have explosion of deportees.”
FPA has gathered that those awaiting deportation have been engaged in a wave of criminal convictions, including possession of control substances, counterfeiting fiscal assault, domestic abuse, robbery and a host of other crimes.
Ambassador Jeremiah Sulunteh, Ambassador to Washington when contacted by FPA did not confirm or deny the possibility of officials being denied visas but acknowledged that some of those awaiting deportation were being processed.
“I cannot confirm if the US has any plans to deny visas to Liberian government officials; at least the Liberian Embassy has not been alerted on this. With regards to the removal of undesirable Liberians from USA and Canada, we have an official number of 53 Liberians that are currently being processed, as far as, our agreement with both US and Canadian Immigration authorities have been concluded.”
The Obama Administration has deported record numbers of immigrants, some 393,000 in 2009 even as Congress struggle to debate a major immigration reform.
Liberia has seen a large number of its citizens deported from the United States in recent years adding to the already rising tide of beggars, drug addicts poising societal problems to the country already facing huge economic and social challenges.
The report comes as the U.S. recently released some 6,000 persons from prisons between October 30 and November 2-- the largest one-time release of federal prisoners -- in an effort to reduce overcrowding and provide relief to drug offenders who received harsh sentences over the past three decades, according to U.S. officials.
The inmates from federal prisons nationwide have been set free by the department's Bureau of Prisons, the Justice Department has stated.
According to the Justice Department, about two-thirds of those to be released will go to halfway houses and home confinement before being put on supervised release.
Liberia is among a set number of foreign countries whose governments are being pressed to take speed up the return of deportees even as President Obama has been granting clemency to certain nonviolent drug offenders, an initiative that has resulted in the early release of 89 inmates.
It is estimated that changes in sentencing guidelines eventually could result in 46,000 of the nation's approximately 100,000 drug offenders in federal prison qualifying for early release.
Scores of Liberians fled the civil war in search of greener pastures and safety in the United States. But while many have been living in the country illegally and surviving at the mercy of the Temporary Protection Status (TPS), a laundry list of others has fallen on the wrong side of the law engaging in a wave of criminal offenses leading to the current deportation drive.
President Obama recently extended the TPS for another year citing "compelling foreign policy reasons" for his action. It is unclear whether those compelling reasons will extend to those awaiting deportation for serious crimes.
In 2014, the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization (BIN), reported that 35 Liberians were deported from other parts of the world for various crimes relative to fraud, malfeasance, official misconduct, overstay among others.
But the bulk of those deported according to BIN have been from the U.S.
In its 2013 Annual Report submitted to then Justice Minister Christiana Tah on January 16, 2014, the Bureau recorded that the 35 Liberian deportees came from the United States, Asia, United Kingdom, Europe and Africa.
Of the total number, 18 of the deportees came from the U.S., 3 from Israel, 2 from Canada while the rest were from Russia, Malaysia, Netherlands, Morocco, Qatar, Spain and Thailand.
Despite the delays on the part of Liberia to fast track efforts to return those deported to Liberia, some political observers are quick to draw a parallel between the action against The Gambia and Liberia.
The U.S. has in recent months taken Jammeh’s government to task over poor human rights record that has been particularly unkind to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer communities in Gambia.
As a result the U.S. in December 2014 suspended Gambia’s eligibility for trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunities Act.
The LGBQT debacle is also an issue in Liberia where homosexuality remains illegal.
The revised Liberian criminal law, Section 14.74 provides that a person guilty of “voluntary sodomy” has committed a first-degree misdemeanor.
“Voluntary sodomy is defined as engaging in “deviate sexual intercourse under circumstances not stated in Section 14.72 or 14.73” (which cover “involuntary sodomy,” including cases of forced sexual relations, sex with a minor or a person of diminished capacity, or by duress or fraud).”
A 1997 study of the status of homosexuals in Liberia, carried out by a Liberian human rights organization, found: "Liberian society frowns on or rejects [homosexual] acts for the mere fact that such acts are immoral, unchristian, uncultured and unhealthy.
This is not the first time the U.S. has threatened blocking of visas for countries seen as uncooperative with deportation proceedings.
In 2001, the George W. Bush administration took action against Guyana for refusing to take back its citizens, and a backlog of some 113 Guyanese was awaiting deportation.
The State Department stopped issuing visas to Guyanese government officials and their families, and Guyana quickly yielded. Within two months, 112 of the backlogged aliens had been cleared to be shipped back — a 99 percent success rate.
In recent years however, the Department of State has taken steps to soften its tone, advocating for close interagency cooperation and coordinated approaches, both in Washington and at posts overseas in hopes of formulating the best strategy to make progress on repatriations.
In July, the Washington Times reported that the DHS and ICE had exhausted standard diplomatic approaches and was instead eyeing alternative measures that fall within the purview” of the State Department.
Sarah Saldana, Director of Ice wrote the governments of Guinea and China and Liberia, described as being among the worst of the 23 countries ICE deems uncooperative in deportations.
“Another 62 countries are on ICE’s watch list but whose records aren’t considered bad enough to be labeled uncooperative,” according to the report.
“As of May, some 1,900 convicts were awaiting deportation, with some of the requests dating as far back as 2008.”
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