US deports 21 Liberians

Liberia’s Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization or BIN says 21 U.S. – based Liberians are coming back to Liberia as deportees on a charter flight, after being expelled from the U.S. for various offenses including homicide and robbery.

BIN Spokesman Mr. Abraham Dolley told the NewDawn newspaper through mobile interview Monday, 31 October that the deportees are being returned to Liberia for various crimes like burglary, aggravated assault, drug abuse, money laundering, theft and sexual assault, among others.

Mr. Dolley says the deportees are expected to arrive here on Wednesday, 2 November via a charter flight, and the U.S. takes responsibility for their transportation. He had earlier on Monday morning told Prime 105.5 FM that when the deportees land into Liberia, they would first be taken to the BIN for profiling by the joint security section. The BIN however did not disclose names of the deportees.

He says normally upon the completion of the profiling, the BIN’s counseling section will have to counsel them for a period of one or two months so that they can have themselves adapted to the Liberian environment.

As per the procedures at BIN, he says upon completion of the profiling of the deportees, a recommendation will then be sent to the Commissioner of Immigration for approval. Following this process, Mr. Dolley says each of the deportees will have their Liberian – based family members come to sign for them, with instruction to regularly go to the BIN for a routine check on them so that they do not get involved into any act that would be unproductive.

Mr. Dolley said the deportees would be asked to disclose names of their parents and their closed relatives in Liberia during the profiling and to provide their contact numbers so that follow-ups can be made to their family members to inform them of their deported relatives.

Where some deportees are found to lost contact with family members back home, he says BIN has in place intel to be placed on them, noting that deportees will not be forced on the family members if they were not welcomed.

In the case of denial of deportees by family members, he says, the BIN will counsel both parties to find a common ground, when quizzed about the fate of U.S. – based Liberians who may have abandoned their family for decades and had no connection with them.

By Winston W. Parley