Guyana has no information on number of citizens likely to be deported from US

Guyana has not been provided with any list of the final number of Guyanese to be deported from the United States for illegally residing in that country, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has said.

At his Thursday press conference, Mr. Jagdeo told reporters that regardless of the number of Guyanese to be deported, Guyana will accept its people with open arms.

“We have made it clear that whatever the number is, once they are Guyanese, we will welcome our people home. We have not gotten any final numbers from the US as to how many people will be deported but the people who are deported by the US Government, which is their decision in full, will be accepted home. These are our people; we have to accept them home,” the Vice President said.

As part of its strategy to clamp down on illegal migration, the US through its Immigration and Border Control agencies have been sweeping through a number of communities across the US in search of undocumented immigrants. It has started to ship many of those illegal immigrants out and has been in talks with a number of countries, including in Latin America, to accept deportees other than their citizens as part of a third country programme.

While it has been reported that Guyana was being identified as a country that could possibly accept third country deportees, the Vice President said Guyana has no such agreement in place.

“In terms of how many from third party will come to Guyana, there is no agreement on anyone from third party coming to Guyana, there is no agreement,” the Vice President said.

Last week, President Irfaan Ali told reporters that while there have been discussions on migration matters with the US Secretary of State, there has been no talk about having deportees from other countries being sent to Guyana.