32 OECS nationals deported from US in 2022
According to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Annual Report, ten Vincentians were among the 32 nationals of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) deported from the United States in 2022.
With 10 deportees, St. Vincent and the Grenadines topped the list; five were Dominicans; and four apiece from Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and Grenada.
According to ICE records, there were 68 deportations to St. Vincent and the Grenadines between 2016 and 2020. Statistics for 2021 were not easily accessible.
The five for Grenada were an increase over the number deported in 2021 but a decline over the total for 2020. There were six and three in those years, respectively.
The reasons for the deportations and the crimes they committed were not clearly stated in the ICE report.
It stated that those deported were noncitizens who were arrested by ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in the United States’ interior or by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) along the Southwest Border and subsequently transferred to ERO for deportation.
