Travel papers for deportees depend on US immigration
-foreign ministry
Stabroek News
February 6, 2003
The government can only process travel documents on behalf of Guyanese in custody and awaiting deportation once they have been applied for by the US Immigration and Naturalization Service.
This information was contained in a Foreign Ministry press release on Tuesday as a result of media enquiries about Guyanese nationals awaiting deportation from the US. A letter was sent to President Bharrat Jagdeo by Halim Khan who was convicted last year by a Chicago court for his role in the visa sale ring operated by Thomas Carroll, a former US diplomat at the US Embassy in George-town. Carroll is serving a 22-year sentence but Khan is being deported after serving out a three-year sentence.
Khan in his letter to the President complained about the delay in receiving his travel documents even though the Guyana Consulate General in New York has his expired Guyana passport.
A release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs detailing the procedure said that the application has to be made to the Guyana Embassy in Washington DC which in turn forwards them to the Ministry of Home Affairs.
“Travel documents can only be processed when a formal request is received from the United States Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service in-forming that the person in question has completed his/ her prison sentence and is in custody awaiting deportation.
“It must be noted that action cannot be taken on request from persons expecting release from prison for priority issue of required travel documents,” the release said adding that the diplomatic mission in the US did not have the authority to change these deportation procedures.
