KINGSTON, Jamaica -- Minister of National Security, Peter Bunting, promises Deportees Policy this year.... Jamaica received the highest number of criminal deportees in the region....He said that over the period 1996 to 2013, a total of 48,726 persons were deported to Jamaica.

By Balford Henry, Senior Staff Reporter  Monday, June 02, 2014 | 1:04 PM    

KINGSTON, Jamaica -- Minister of National Security, Peter Bunting, says that a policy is being developed for the management of returning deportees and their reintegration into the society, as well as the repatriating of foreigners from Jamaica, starting this financial year.

Minister of National Security, Peter Bunting

According to Ministry Paper Number 94, titled ‘Achievements and Plans of the Ministry of National Security’, which has been tabled in the House of Representatives by the minister, the policy is at an advanced drafting stage and will be tabled before the Public Order Committee of Cabinet during the first quarter of 2014/15.

In the Ministry Paper, the Minister explained that, up to 2013, on average, Jamaica received the highest number of criminal deportees in the region.

He said that over the period 1996 to 2013, a total of 48,726 persons were deported to Jamaica. In 2013, a total of 2,139 persons were deported to the island, for both criminal and non-criminal offences.

He said that the deportation of women, and the minors who accompany them, is also a growing concern for his ministry, as policy makers, given the impact on family life.

“This high level of attention and activity that the return and reintegration of Jamaicans has been receiving in recent years, has presented the need for the Ministry to develop a policy for the management of the returning and reintegration of Jamaicans and the process of repatriating foreigners from the Island,” Bunting explained.