The Caribbean can look forward to a sharp increase in the number of criminal deportees coming from the U.K., as that country toughens its immigration law enforcement.
The U.K. is on its way to deporting more convicts than it ever had in a year. So far for 2008, 2,400 criminal deportees have been sent back to their country of birth, a 22 percent increase on last year. In 2007, a total of 4,200 convicts were deported.
‘In January, I set the UK Border Agency the tough target of removing 5,000 foreign criminals by the end of the year, an increase on last year’s record-breaking levels. I am pleased that we are on track to meet this target,’ said Liam Byrne, Minister of State for Borders and Immigration.
The U.K. government will also soon start utilizing its power to automatically deport foreign convicts. This summer, those sentenced to 12 months or more in prison will face automatic deportation, as well as those who use or sell guns, regardless of their sentence.
The convicts are deported most dangerous first. So far 15 killers, 137 sex offenders, and 844 drug offenders have been deported.
Criminal deportees have been a major bone of contention between Caribbean countries and the U.K. as U.S. Caribbean leaders blame deportees for spikes in crime in their countries and charge that many of them did not grow up in the Caribbean, and therefore developed their criminal proclivities in the bigger countries.
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