NEW YORK NEW YORK: Hope yet for Bajans on the deportee list?

BY TONY BEST | FRI, AUGUST 26, 2011 - 12:00 AM

Scores of Bajans facing deportation to their birthplace may be given a second chance to remain in the United States.

But the tough question is: what may happen with Barbadians who have already been sent back home?

The opportunity and the intriguing query are linked to a decision by the United States Department of Homeland Security to take a second look at 300 000 deportation cases now before American immigration courts.

The dramatic move has been hailed by immigration advocates in and outside the United States Congress and the courts who have been pressing the Obama White House for more than two-and-a-half years to change a dreaded policy which has resulted in more than a million people being kicked out of the country.

Tens of thousands of men and women from the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados, many of whom have done nothing more than overstay their allotted time or committed misdemeanors, such as jumping a subway turnstile, possessing a joint of marijuana, shoplifting a $1 pack of salted nuts or sneaking onto a bus without paying the fare.

Almost 70 Barbadians in the northeastern United States are in the deportation pipeline and Andre Padmore, Barbados’ Consul in New York, described the move as “a step in the right direction”. He said they were “awaiting a detailed explanation of the administration’s plans”.

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