Jamaican deportation increases for the first time in five years

Kingston, Aug 2 (Prensa Latina) The number of Jamaicans deported to their country increased in 2022 for the first time in five years, local media The Gleaner reported.

August 2, 2023
11:10

On Tuesday, The Gleaner’s report stated that some 562 people returned to the Caribbean nation last year, compared to 501 who returned to home soil in 2021, revealed the 2022 Economic and Social Survey of Jamaica (ESSJ).

The United States was the top country from which migrants were deported, with 328 persons; followed by Canada and the United Kingdom.

Of those deported, 80.3 percent were men. Just over 40 percent overstayed in the foreign country, entered illegally or were guilty of illegal re-entry.

In 2022, a total of 84 people were deported from the United States for drug possession, 14 for firearms-related offenses, and 34 for murder, manslaughter, or attempted murder.

The above represents a reversal in the downward trend in the number of deportees Jamaica experienced in recent years; from 1,393 in 2017, to 501 in 2020.

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