(Jamaica Observer) Scores of Jamaicans are believed to be among the 1.7 million illegal immigrants in the United States who have opted to return home in the last two years, rather than endure the harsh realities of a tough American economy and stricter enforcement of immigration policies.
According to the US Centre for Immigration Studies (CIS), the population of undocumented persons in the United States declined by some 14 per cent or 1.7 million people between the summer of 2007 and spring of 2009.
Analysing Census Bureau data, researchers Steven Camarota and Karen Jensenius calculate that the number of immigrants entering the USA illegally has fallen by one-third, while the number returning home has more than doubled.
“Both increased immigration enforcement and the recession seem to explain this decline,” they report.
But so far there are no clear cut figures as to how many Jamaicans are choosing this route, since persons turning up at the two international airports on the island are not required to declare what their status was in the country from which they are arriving.
However, those closely connected to the migrant communities in New York, one of the largest settlements of Jamaicans in the US, say there is an ever increasing number of our citizens who are falling into this category.
Dr Basil Wilson, dean of criminal justice at Monroe College and former provost and senior vice-president of academic affairs at John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York, said navigating the US system as an illegal immigrant has become much harder, forcing many to give up their American dream.
Although certain sectors, such as restaurants and hotels, depend largely on immigrant labour, stringent measures imposed by the federal government have made it much more difficult for illegal immigrants to find employment.
Within the last two years, the US has tightened its borders and punished employers who hire undocumented persons.
“The share of the US border that has a fence has increased significantly in the last three years and the number of Border Patrol agents has more than doubled,” the CIS report notes.
Removal and deportation of unlawful aliens “has increased dramatically”, as federal agents have repeatedly raided workplaces where immigrants are employed.
But it would appear that what is driving the immigration outflow is the recession.
With legal residents competing with American citizens for the shrinking number of jobs, illegal immigrants are jostled further to the bottom of the unemployment heap.
“In many of these workplaces you have to show that you are a bonafide resident of the US before you can get a job,” Wilson explained.
Despite this, he said, the United States is a huge society and as such the estimated 12-14 million illegal persons in that country have, for sometime, been able to function underground, in some instances creating their own jobs.
But despite all of this, navigating the system is still very difficult.
“There are studies showing that more people are leaving the US than are coming and while I don’t have the figures I know that a lot of Jamaicans are among them,” Wilson said.
He explained further that under recent immigration legislation there has been insistence that local law enforcement become more vigilant about illegal immigrants.
Wilson said while the New York Police Department will not randomly select persons off the street to ascertain their immigration status, persons who are arrested for even the most minor of crimes can be asked to show proof of status.
Persons, he explained, who would usually try to beat the system by having children in the US with the hope that this would automatically grant them a green card, are not able to do so after the laws were revised in 1996.
“Under this revision, these American-born children can only file for their parents when they get to age 21,” he explained.
He said there has also been a tightening up on the system for persons who marry with the intention of remaining in the US. They are actually being charged or face deportation if it is discovered that their marriages are not real.
Wilson said there is mounting pressure on President Barack Obama, particularly from the Hispanic community, for immigration reform. However, with the health reform agenda now taking priority, Wilson believes Congress will not get to the issue before next year.
When they do, Wilson said the Caribbean will be set to benefit as illegal immigrants may be required to change their status through some form of an amnesty.
Patrick Beckford, North East director for Jamaica Diaspora, admitted that Jamaican illegal residents are returning home and that this will only increase.
He said Jamaicans are becoming homeless and living in shelters, especially those who are illegal and cannot benefit from state support.
“If you go and search in a lot of shelters in New York you will find Jamaicans,” he said, adding there are people who are hungry and are joining long lines to get free food.
Additionally, with the stronger enforcement of immigration laws, Beckford explained that some persons are opting to leave before they are picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and deported without being given the opportunity to take their possessions with them.
“When they choose to go home at least they can take what they have with them,” Beckford said.
He added that the harsh economic climate is also causing legal immigrants to reconsider returning home, and many would have already done so were it not for the crime situation in Jamaica.
“If the crime rate was 50 per cent lower a lot of people would return home,” he told the Observer.
But not even the crime wave across the island will prevent 65-year-old George Bailey from returning home, having lived illegally in the United States for the last 18 years.
His three barrels are packed and he is now waiting to get enough money to buy a one-way ticket home.
“Me just want to come home,” he told the Observer. “Even if me have to leave me barrel them, me just want to come home,” he insisted when his sister reminded him how much money he needs to clear the barrels from the wharf when he arrives in Jamaica.
Eighteen years ago, the prospect of joining relatives in the United States seemed the best option to acquiring a sound future. Bailey knew he would one day return to the land of his birth, but in his mind the script was different.
He would have been married to an American citizen and received a green card. By then, he had hoped to save enough from his odd jobs in restaurants to be considered among the elite “returning residents”.
But nearly two decades later, the dream still eludes him, resulting in the hard decision of getting to spend the remainder of his days in a country where he is constantly looking over his shoulder or scrounging for food.
The choice for Bailey, therefore, is simple – return to his plot land in deep rural St Catherine, where he plans to eke out a living from farming.
“Mi nuh waan stay so till mi nuh have nuh use to miself, so mi ready fi leave because tings getting way too hard here… this wasn’t what I expected,” he said.
His passport has expired, but he is hoping it will be enough to help him lay claims to the Jamaican rock when he arrives at the Norman Manley International Airport.
Security attaché at the Jamaican Embassy in Washington, Clifford Chambers, explained that persons like Bailey can return to Jamaica on an expired passport as no questions are asked if the person is leaving the US voluntarily.
For those who may have travelled to the US on fraudulent papers and have no travel documents to return home, Chambers explained that the embassy will issue an emergency travel certificate once they are able to determine that such persons are in fact Jamaicans.
“All that person needs is to buy a ticket and he can go home,” he said.
Some Jamaicans have been able to live illegally along with their children as the school system cannot deny a child the right to education. Additionally, these children can receive health care at hospital emergency rooms if they have no insurance.
But as Dr Wilson explained, these children usually cannot go beyond the high school level as they must have proper documentation in order to be accepted to universities.
“Young children are allowed to be in school whether they are illegal or not as Government finds that it is counter-productive to exclude kids from an education,” he said. As such, there are state laws that prohibit school officials from questioning the status of a child seeking admission.
However, for many of these children, this is where their education ends and the cycle continues as they too must live looking over their shoulders or opt to return home.
Lorna Fairweather, a community consultant, told the Observer that the greatest social need in the Jamaican communities is housing.
“It is hard for the documented person, but it is even harder for those who are undocumented because a lot of persons are homeless and you have to understand that if you are not sleeping in one place for more than two nights, then you are considered homeless,” she said.
