Dear Editor,
I write in reference to the Foreign Ministry’s response relating to the deportation of Mark Isaacs (Stabroek News, August 29) to explain the process of “removal from the U. S.”. Contrary to what deportee Isaacs believes, there is virtually nothing any country can do to prevent a deportation except in the rarest of cases where a prospective deportee was denied due process or a fair trial.
The Guyana government could have appealed, begged, pleaded for Isaacs and may indeed had done so and I am certain the government would have preferred to have one less deportee in the country. But it was unlikely that deportation would have been avoided.
I studied U. S. immigration rules and keenly follow changes to the law on deportation removal. Once a non-citizen commits a serious crime (felony, as in the case of Isaacs), he or she is automatically placed under removal proceedings after serving “time”. There are limited exceptions to this rule granted by a judge under humanitarian conditions, or by the president or some high official.
Recently, the Barack Obama administration announced it would consider granting a reprieve from deportation to some convicted “minors” who have virtually no connection to their home country.
The U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency that oversees immigration policies, also announced it would review its policy on deportation of certain individuals who were convicted of less serious crimes.
There is/ was virtually nothing that the Guyana government could have done to prevent Isaacs’ deportation.
However, Isaacs could have taken measures to delay or even prevent deportation by using his service in the armed forces.
Naturalised citizens are rarely deported, unless they obtained citizenship under fraudulent means, even if they commit the most heinous crimes.
Any immigrant who serves honourably in the U. S. armed forces is entitled to expedited citizenship and many Guyanese are known to acquire citizenship under this rule. Isaac could have applied for citizenship under this rule and delayed or prevented deportation while his application was pending.
Those who served honourably in the armed forces are almost never rejected of citizenship even while in holding. Also, Isaacs could have appealed directly to the president or other officials, the army chief-of-staff, or the chairman of the joint chiefs-of-staff, pointing out his honourable service in the army while defending America, and plead for his assistance.
Isaacs most likely would have been granted a reprieve from deportation while his citizenship application proceeded – the army is kind to its servicemen. That would have been a better course of action rather than depend on the action of the Guyana government, which has no sway in preventing his or any other deportation.
On the record, the Obama administration has deported more people than perhaps all previous presidents combined.
Deportation rules are strictly enforced and as such the principal reason why so many Guyanese have been deported even for petty crimes.
Yours truly,
Vishnu Bisram
Queens, N.Y.