News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Jan. 2013: A total of 55,742 criminal immigrants were sent packing from the U.S. and back to their homelands in the Caribbean and Latin America in 2012, New Americas has found.

Data NAN obtained and analyzed from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency on deportee rates to Latin America and the Caribbean, found that while some 4,898 of all criminal immigrants were sent back to the Caribbean last year, Latin America accounted for over 12 time that number with 50,844.
A “criminal alien” is defined under U.S. immigration laws as a migrant who is convicted of a crime. Most of those deported were sent back for murders and sex and drug crimes.

Non-criminal immigrants deported to the Caribbean totaled 1,612 while to Latin America the number was a whopping 176,589. In total, the number of all immigrants sent back to the Caribbean region in 2012 was put at 6,510 by ICE and 227, 433 to Latin America.

But the number was actually a marked drop from 2011 when 14,912 Caribbean migrants were sent back and 555,801 Latin Americans.

For the Caribbean in 2012, the most criminal deportees were sent back to the Dominican Republic with a massive 2,264 while Jamaica was second with 1,213.

The rates for other countries were as follows:
Haiti: 758 total removals (568 criminal and 190 non-criminal);
Trinidad and Tobago: 242 total removals (187 criminal and 55 non-criminal);
Belize: 217 total removals (152 criminal and 65 non-criminal);
Guyana: 182 total removals (154 criminal and 28 non-criminal);
The Bahamas: 123 total removals (98 criminal and 25 non-criminal);
Cuba: 66 total removals (55 criminal and 11 non-criminal);
Barbados: 50 total removals (45 criminal and 5 non-criminal);
Dominica: 41 total removals (19 criminal and 22 non-criminal);
St. Kitts-Nevis: 40 total removals (32 criminal and 8 non-criminal);
Antigua & Barbuda: 36 total removals (25 criminal and 11 non-criminal)
St Lucia: 28 total removals (14 criminal and 14 non-criminal);
Grenada: 25 total removals (15 criminal and 10 non-criminal);
Turks Caicos Islands: 10 total removals (7 criminal and 3 non-criminal).
British Virgin Islands: 9 total removals (7 criminal and 2 non-criminal);
Bermuda: 8 total removals (5 criminal and 3 non-criminal);
Suriname: 6 total removals (6 criminal and 0 non-criminal);
Guadeloupe: 2 total removals (1 criminal and 1 non-criminal);
Montserrat: 2 total removals (2 criminal and 0 non-criminal);
Netherlands Antilles, inclusive of St. Maarten, Curacao, Saba, Bonaire: 2 total removals (1 criminal and 1 non-criminal);
Anguilla: 1 total removal (0 criminal and 1 non-criminal);
Cayman Islands: 1 total removals (1 criminal and 0 non-criminal);
Aruba: 0 total removal;
For Latin America, Mexico topped the list with 289,686 total removals including174,003 criminal and 115,683 non-criminals while Guatemala was second with 40,498 total removals (14,251 criminal and 26,247 non-criminal).
Other country rates were as follows:
Honduras: 32,464 total removals (14,180 criminal and 18,284 non-criminal);
El Salvador: 19,694 total removals (9,095 criminal and 10,599 non-criminal);
Brazil: 2,804 total removals (509 criminal and 2,295 non-criminal);
Ecuador: 1,976 total removals (819 criminal and 1,157 non-criminal);
Colombia: 1,681 total removals (1,121 criminal and 560 non-criminal);
Nicaragua: 1,507 total removals (777 criminal and 730 non-criminal);
Costa Rica: 380 total removals (152 criminal and 228 non-criminal);
Venezuela: 284 total removals (131 criminal and 153 non-criminal);
Argentina: 226 total removals (119 criminal and 107 non-criminal);
Bolivia: 197 total removals (131 criminal and 66 non-criminal);
Panama: 137 total removals (100 criminal and 37 non-criminal);
Uruguay: 119 total removals (63 criminal and 56 non-criminal)
Chile: 115 total removals (74 criminal and 41 non-criminal);
Peru: 908 total removals (504 criminal and 404 non-criminal);
Paraguay: 18 total removals (10 criminal and 8 non-criminal).

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said they deported 409,849 immigrants who broke criminal laws, were threats to national security and were recent border crossers and repeat violators of immigration law, around the globe in 2012.

Of the total number removed, approximately 55 percent, or 225,390 were convicted of felonies or misdemeanors – almost double the removal of criminals in FY 2008. This includes 1,215 immigrants convicted of homicide; 5,557 immigrants convicted of sexual offenses; 40,448 immigrants convicted for crimes involving drugs; and 36,166 aliens convicted for driving under the influence.

ICE said it continues to make progress with regard to other categories prioritized for removal. Some 96 percent of all ICE’s removals fell into a priority category – a record high.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director, John Morton, said the administration’s focus remains on removing from the country convicted criminals and other individuals that fall into priority areas for enforcement.

“Smart and effective immigration enforcement relies on setting priorities for removal and executing on those priorities,” said Director Morton. “In order to further enhance our ability to focus enforcement efforts on serious offenders, we are changing who ICE will issue detainers against. While the FY 2012 removals indicate that we continue to make progress in focusing resources on criminal and priority aliens, with more convicted criminals being removed from the country than ever before, we are constantly looking for ways to ensure that we are doing everything we can to utilize our resources in a way that maximizes public safety.”

Mexico President addressing the UN General Assembly on Sept. 21, 2011. (Hayden Roger Celestin image)

President of Argentina, Cristina Fernández, said Argentina officially recognizes the State of Palestine and believes its recognition as a United Nations Member State would prove beneficial to Israel.

Fernandez argued that excluding Palestine would create greater global instability.

“Allowing Palestine to take its seat as Member State number 194 would result in a world that was not only more secure but also more just,” she told the body.
Mexico’s President, Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, also called for the establishment of a Palestinian State as did Honduras’ President Porfirio Lobo Sosa.

“Honduras has recognized Palestine as a State and look forward to a negotiated settlement of the Middle East conflict on the basis of the two-State solution, corresponding to the needs of the two peoples involved,” he said.

Recalling that Paraguay had established diplomatic relations with Palestine in March 2005, President Fernando Lugo Méndez said it recognized a free, independent State within the pre-1967 borders while Guatemala’s President, Álvaro Colom Caballeros, insisted his country supports “the creation of a viable and prosperous Palestinian State, living in peace and harmony, behind secure and defensible borders, next to the State of Israel.”

Guyana’s President, Bharrat Jagdeo, the lone Caribbean leader to speak Wednesday, also added his support for Palestinian statehood, telling the body his country also supports the right of the Palestinian people to full statehood.

Their comments came after U.S. President Barack Obama switched his tune from a year ago and yesterday instead said “peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the U.N.”

Diego Forlán scored twice and Luis Suárez once as Uruguay took the win 3-0 over Paraguay. Uruguay’s squad featured 20 of the 23 players they took to the World Cup. They showed teamwork and unselfish play despite possessing none of the star power of their bigger rivals.

The victory gave Uruguay their first Copa América title since 1995.

Striker Suarez was also voted the Best Player LG of the 2011 Copa America.

The two face-off in the forty-third edition of Copa, comes after each eliminated their competitor in the semi-finals Wednesday to move on to the finale of the competition.

Paraguay eliminated Venezuela in a 5-3 penalty shootout in the semi-finals in Mendoza while Uruguay whipped Peru 2-0.

Uruguay is, however, seen as the stronger team going into this finals, especially since as the Paraguay side themselves admitted: “We arrive exhausted with almost no oxygen, with five or six injured and one suspended player.”

But the underdogs are still set to give it their best shot and as they said: “We are willing to fight with the best way.”

Meanwhile, Peru and Venezuela will play tomorrow, Saturday, July 23rd, at the in Ciudad de La Plata stadium to determine the third and fourth place winners.

On Saturday, July 16th, Colombia will face Peru at 3 p.m. while Argentina takes on Uruguay at 6:15 p.m.

On Sunday, July 17th, its Brazil’s chance to take on Paraguay at 3 p.m. after fighting off Ecuador 4-2 Wednesday for a slot in the QF’s. Chile faces Venezuela at 6:15 p.m.

The semi-finals will begin on Tuesday, July 19th. Copa America coverage is available now on Xfinity On Demand and XfinityTV.com and runs through July 24, and features teams from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Japan, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation data obtained by NAN show that from the beginning of the 2011 fiscal year in October last year to the end of March this year, 88,497 criminal “aliens” or migrants were deported back to their country of birth in the Latin/Caribbean region. A “criminal alien” is defined under U.S. immigration laws as a migrant who is convicted of a crime.

The number sent back to Latin America alone stood at 86,469 while 2,028 were sent back to the Caribbean. For the entire Fiscal Year 2010, from October 2009 to September 30, 2010, some 190,860 criminal migrants were deported.

There was no surprise as the biggest receiver of criminal migrants was Mexico for Latin America, with 70,874 deported as of March 28th. The second largest number was returned to Guatemala; some 5,163, while Honduras followed with 4,682.

El Salvador was fourth with 3,956.Other Latin nations received far less deportees – Colombia, 471; Nicaragua, 365; Ecuador, 337 and Brazil 260.
Sixty criminal deportees have been sent back to Bolivia so far this fiscal year while there were 50 each for Venezuela and Argentina. Chile has received 49; Panama, 47; Uruguay, 27 and Paraguay, 6.

For the Caribbean, the Dominican Republic received the most criminal deportees, some 1,066. They were followed by Jamaica which has received 528 since the beginning of Fiscal Year 2011. Trinidad and Tobago was third with 125 followed by Belize with 74, the Bahamas with 65 and Guyana with 64. So far this fiscal year, 50 migrants have been sent back to Aruba and 31 to the earth-quake ravaged Haiti. Other Caribbean nations received far less criminal deportees.

Cuba received 20 in the past six months; Barbados was sent 11; Dominica 10; St. Lucia seven and Antigua five. Bermuda has received four criminal migrants since last October while St. Kitts received 3; Suriname, the British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands, 2 each, and Anguilla and the Turks and Caicos, one each.

Prior to this nomination, Thessin served at the Department of State as the assistant legal adviser for management, the assistant legal adviser for human rights and refugee affairs, and an attorney-advisor for political military affairs.

Before joining the Department in 1982, Thessin served as an attorney for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Federal Trade Commission.

Thessin received an A.A. at Father Judge Mission Seminary, an A.B. from Catholic University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. If confirmed, he will replace Liliana Ayalde in the post.

The two sides will clash on March 26th in a friendly. Argentina, with six wins, two losses and one draw against the Americans, will field a line-up that includes two-time reigning FIFA Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi and stars Javier Zanetti, Javier Mascherano and Esteban Cambiasso.

The U.S. also faces Paraguay three days later in Nashville, Tennessee.

The Department, in its latest International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, insists that bribery of many public officials, including law enforcement and judicial officers, undermines the efforts against drug trafficking in the Latin Americas region, where poverty and low wages also remain an issue.
The report points to what it terms as major illicit drug producing and/or drug-transit count nations such as Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela, as places where corruption is a problem.

In Bolivia, which President Obama says has failed miserably to fight drug traffickers in 2010, the report says incidents of corruption among police officers there increased since the departure of the DEA in 2009.

Of the more than 500 officers polygraphed in 2010 in bolivia, 93 officers failed the exam and were removed from Boliva’s Fuerza Especial de Lucha Contra el Narcotráfico or drug fighting unit. Twenty additional officers who failed the polygraph were placed on administrative duties, pending removal.

The U.S. also claimed that in Venezuela, public corruption continues to be a major issue and appears to have contributed to drug trafficking organizations’ use of Venezuela to transit drugs in 2010. They point to the November 2010 appointment by President Chavez of Henry Rangel Silva to a four-star equivalent rank of general in chief. Rangel Silva was designated under the Kingpin Act by the U.S. Treasury Department in September 2008 for materially assisting the narcotics trafficking activities of the FARC.

In Mexico, the U.S. says corruption is most rampant there too, with analysts pointing to the case of Gregory Sanchez, the former Mayor of Cancún and candidate for Governor of Quintana Roo, who was among those arrested for alleged narcotics trafficking ties and money laundering.

While in Columbia, the world’s largest producer and exporter of cocaine, corruption of some officials occurs, often instigated by drug trafficking organizations, the U.S. said.

On February 9, 2010, the Colombian government arrested Ramiro Antury, a military lawyer, for receiving approximately $150,900 a month from the Rastrojos criminal organization, in return for intercepting security agencies’ telephone calls and feeding information back to narcotics traffickers.
And in two separate cases, the Colombian government also indicted Colonel Juan Carlos Martinez Correal and Major Giovanny Enrique Pinzon Vargas of the CNP for narcotics trafficking.

In Guatemala, the U.S. says corruption remains endemic in public institutions and society as a whole. The report points to two former presidents of congress facing charges for their alleged involvement in an embezzlement scandal while former President Alfonso Portillo is being prosecuted for embezzlement and money laundering during his administration.

In Haiti, the United States government says it continues to receive reports of actively serving HNP officers providing security for drug traffickers using clandestine landing strips or for transporting cocaine from one location to another.

“This pervasive corruption is a serious impediment to conducting effective counternarcotics operations in Haiti,” said the report.

Pointing to over 88 prosecutions of police for criminal misconduct in an effort to combat corruption and abuse in the National Police, the U.S. also cited Honduras as a nation where the scourge is a problem, while in Nicaragua, the U.S. claims that cash rich criminals have acquired a cloak of impunity through bribery and extortion of judicial and law enforcement officials while detained drug suspects are regularly freed after a short detention, a practice that undercuts law enforcement effectiveness.

In the South American nation of Guyana, the U.S. did not implicate any government officials or point to any specific case, but said there are reports implicating police personally retaining drugs from seizures while others point to high government officials that are not investigated and go unpunished.

Corruption in Jamaica, the U.S. claimed, continues to be of major concern to the GOJ, the USG, and most Jamaicans. But the report states that an improving anti-corruption stance within Jamaican customs enforcement, the JCF, the Jamaica Tax Administration, and the Office of the Contractor General has shown encouraging signs.

In Suriname where civil servants, including police and military officers, are inadequately compensated, the U.S. drug report said many are open to bribery.

“The judicial system too is not exempt from this, according to the report, and this is a significant concern and is the greatest barrier to effective prosecution of drug traffickers and producers,” stated analysts.

For instance, two high level officials had previously been convicted in absentia in The Netherlands on drug trafficking charges, including President Bouterse and Member of Parliament, Ronnie Brunswijk. France also has an outstanding arrest warrant for Brunswijk while two former police officers of the police team used to nab drug dealers, were prosecuted 2010 for stealing cocaine from a police vault while it was being held as evidence from a large drug bust.

In The DR, the U.S. says corruption remains endemic with numerous law enforcement, military, and government officials implicated in a range of corrupt activities, including drug trafficking and money laundering. They point to 217 police officers who were dismissed for either testing positive for drug use, abuse of authority, or corruption and another 408 officers for similar reasons.

In Panama, the new Panamanian National Police Internal Affairs system produced quick results, with over 50 officers – including some senior leaders – removed for corruption in the latter half of 2010 while in Peru, the Peruvian Congress is in the process of investigating former Minister of Interior Fernando Barrios for corruption.

In Paraguay, the U.S. points to the September 2010 case of Mendi Pavao, where a three-judge panel absolved and released the drug trafficker after an alleged $1 million payoff while in Brazil, the Attorney General’s office filed 3,706 actions to recover a total of $1.5 billion suspected to have been diverted by corruption. According to the AGU’s website, over $340 million of that amount was found in the bank accounts of mayors, former mayors, public servants, and business executives involved in illegal operations.

Over in the Eastern Caribbean, while there were no convictions or arrests of government or police officials, U.S. analysts say they “believe drug trafficking organizations continue to elude law enforcement agencies through bribery, influence or coercion.”
The same was true of Trinidad and Tobago, where while there were no charges of drug-related corruption filed against senior government officials, the U.S. says most of Trinidad and Tobago’s law enforcement and customs officials are not rigorously vetted on an ongoing basis.

Belize was rapped for having no laws that specifically deal with narcotics-related corruption with U.S. officials pointing out that the Prevention of Corruption Law deals mainly with corruption in public office related to public gain, use of public funds and code of conduct, leaving law enforcement officials with inadequate compensation vulnerable to bribery.

Drug trafficking continues to grow in Latin America and the Caribbean despite decades of anti-drug efforts by the United States and partner governments and the production and trafficking of popular illicit drugs – cocaine, marijuana, opiates, and methamphetamine – generates a multi-billion dollar black market in which Latin American criminal and terrorist organizations thrive and engage in gun battles over turf.

The report released Thursday by the State Department, shows the BVI moving into the “Jurisdictions of Primary Concern” column, meaning it is now considered among “major money laundering countries.”

A major money laundering country, according to the Bureau Of International Narcotics And Law Enforcement Affairs’ International Narcotics Control Report, is defined by statute as one “whose financial institutions engage in currency transactions involving significant amounts of proceeds from international narcotics trafficking.”

The U.S. says the BVI is a major target for drug traffickers, who use the area as a gateway to the United States and drug trafficking in general is a serious problem.

And officials added that the Islands, with a population of approximately 22,000, remain vulnerable to money laundering practices through its drug trafficking trade and the exploitation of its offshore financial services because of its proximity to the U.S. Virgin Islands and the use of the U.S. dollar for its currency pose risk factors for money laundering.

The BVI has a growing off-shore economy and as of September 2010, there were 456,547 active companies, 237 licensed banks and 2,951 mutual funds registered with the BVI Financial Services Commission.

The U.S. wants the FSC to increase its staffing in order to meet the recommended inspection and reporting requirements, especially in light of the new entities covered under the law.

“The lack of prosecutions for money laundering and a reported decline in number of inspections suggests that the FSC should work closely with law enforcement and other authorities,” the report added by way of a recommendation.

Every year, U.S. officials from agencies with anti-money laundering responsibilities meet to assess the money laundering situations in 200 jurisdictions.

The U.S. is itself among the primary jurisdictions list along with Antigua, the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Canada, Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, Belize, Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic.