A new Migration Governance Needs Assessment Report on Guyana, released by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), points out that a total of 267 Guyanese were deported from the United States of America (U.S.A) in 2018 and 2019.
During a virtual launch of the report on Thursday, Chief of Mission of the IOM Robert Natiello said this number of people subject to forced return from the U.S.A accounts for undesirable persons who were detained by the authorities and deemed hazardous to the public good.
No statistics were provided for persons deported in 2020 and for the first six months of 2021.
Those deported included persons who have completed prison sentences or persons without regular immigration status. It could also account for persons extradited. In November 2019 US-based Guyana-born businessman Marcus Bisram was extradited to Guyana to face a murder charge.
The Ministries of Human Services and Social Security along with the Ministry of Home Affairs are the government agencies involved in receiving and assisting forced returnees.
The IOM report points out that there are not formal programmes dedicated to specifically assisting and reintegrating forced returnees.
But according to key officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, programmes and services are accessible to forced returnees.
The Ministry of Health (MoH), for example, has the capacity to offer psychological counselling and substance abuse treatment.
