Perrin fears crime situation could worsen with US deportations
Published:Monday | February 3, 2025 | 4:39 PMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Westmoreland Custos Reverend Canon Hartley Perrin has expressed concern over the potential negative impact of US President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan on Jamaica, particularly given that the first phase targets individuals with criminal records.
Perrin made these comments last Thursday during a meeting of the Westmoreland chapter of the Lay Magistrates Association of Jamaica, where he highlighted the already troubling crime situation in Jamaica and the risk that deporting criminals could exacerbate the issue.
“Every Jamaican walks with a sense of fear and uncertainty as a result of the wanton activities of the ruthless criminals in our midst,” said Perrin. “The deportation of persons who have embraced crime will only cause more problems.”
In the aftermath of Trump taking office on January 20 as the 47th US president, at his direction, undocumented immigrants in the country have become the target of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
“What we have to understand is that these criminals are not imported persons … . When these persons come to our shores with a sense of dislocation, not being able to adjust to their new lifestyles, not having the companions that they are accustomed to, then we have to prepare ourselves and brace ourselves for the backlash that it will cause in our respective neighbourhoods,” said Perrin.
At the same time, Perrin is calling on the police and the army to ramp up their efforts to remove local-based criminals from communities across the island to ease the increasing anxiety among law-abiding citizens.
“We know how afraid we are, not just in the night. There was a time when we were only afraid in the night, and feel good in the days, but now things have changed. The criminals have become so barefaced that [whether] night or day, we have to be cautious,” said Perrin.
ICE said it made 956 arrests nationwide on Sunday and 286 on Saturday. While some of the operations may not have been unusual, ICE averaged 311 daily arrests in the fiscal year that ended September 30, 2024.