22 Liberian Deportees Arrive

MONROVIA – Twenty-two Liberian deportees from various parts of the United States of America have arrived in the country.

They arrived Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at Roberts International Airport and were subsequently taken to the headquarters of the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization (BIN) where they will remain until their relatives in Liberia sign documents for their release.

The deportees, who are all males, appeared hefty in structure, sporting different hair styles and tattoos. They were deported for various crimes including drug abuse, assault, larceny, robbery, fraud, forgery, burglary, sexual offense and rape after having served time in US prison facilities.

Journalists were not allowed to photograph or interact with the deportees. When this reporter arrived in the conference room of BIN, one of the deportees, identified as Tamba Davis, was responding to BIN Commissioner Chris Massaquoi’s welcome statement. Davis told the Commissioner that his deportation was due to political reasons and not what he had been alleged to have done.

He said as a single parent responsible for his only daughter, he did not feel happy about returning to Liberia. He added that he and his fellow deportees were being discriminated against in the U.S. for ‘political reasons’.

Another tall, light-skinned deportee with tattoos, identified as Abraham Benitoe, said his major concern was whether the Liberian Government was prepared to cater for his needs now that the U.S. Government had deported him.

In response, Massaquoi assured the deportees that the Liberian Government is prepared to meet their needs while they are in Liberia, adding that they are free to live and rebuild their lives in their native land.

He cautioned them not to forget about what had happened to them in the United States and desist from criminal activities.

He told them that if they desist from crime for which they had been deported, they could live good lives in Liberia; but if they continue to carry on the same activities, Massaquoi said, they will be charged and sent to prison.

The BIN Commissioner also informed the 22 deportees that the level of protection given criminals in the United States is not the same in Liberia.

Liberians, he told them, are tired of criminal activities, and many in most quarters take the law into their own hands and carry out mob actions which lead to the death of the perpetrators.

Deputy BIN Commissioner for Administration, Archie P. Williams, called on Liberians to accept their brothers who have arrived in the country.

He said the crimes the deportees committed were in the United States and not in Liberia, adding, “They are our Liberian brothers and should be treated as Liberians.”

Williams said the deportees could not be sent to the Zwedru Prison as done to the first batch of deportees in 2008 because it would cost too much money.

Moreover, he added, the crimes were minor offenses that did not warrant sending the deportees to the prison center in Zwedru.

This is the third time the U.S. Government has deported Liberians to their country for unlawful acts since Liberia regained stability under President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

It can be recalled that in 2006, 23 Liberians were deported. Two years later, another 27 were sent back home.