Vision on Mission to meet deportees

THE rehabilitation charity Vision on Mission (VoM) will be present at Piarco Airport to help guide a group of 21 nationals due to be deported to Trinidad and Tobago from the US on May 23, VoM head Giselle Chance told Newsday on May 21.

Amid lurid news headlines purporting to detail some deportees' offences, Chance said the general public would want any serious offenders to be monitored in TT, but she also urged people not to stigmatise deportees, even as VoM works towards their positive reintegration into TT society.

On April 6, Newsday reported that 11 TT nationals had just been deported on a flight from the US, whom VoM had similarly helped.

Replying to Newsday's questions, she said, "Yes, we are prepared for Friday (May 23), to assist the deportees arriving."

She said VoM has been in talks with national security ministers and officials.

"So in collaboration with them, we are set to be able to interact with the deportees on their arrival, to officially inform them of our services which include immediate accommodation for those who would need it, and also to explain to them the kind of programme VoM is.

"It is a voluntary programme, so it is not one where deportees should be apprehensive, or where they would be discriminated against or targeted in any way.

"We are here to give them all the social support services or link them to the ones we are not able to provide."

Chance said VoM would be present to make reintegration easier, as opposed to deportees doing it on their own, especially for those lacking family support.

"Those services include counselling, because we understand the traumatic experience for most of these deportees.

"Even though some of them are offenders, it is still a traumatic experience coming back to live in your home country after being away for some time."

She gave details.

"High up on the list of services we would provide is a simple phone-call when they come in. You would be surprised; some of them just want to reach out to the families or friend or citizen supporting them to let them know that they are here.

"So we will be waiting, to offer them a phone-call and some small care-packages, and to give them information where they could contact us if they are not coming with us immediately, where they can reach out to us afterwards."

Chance said VoM will also help the families of returnees.

"So we are here to support those families who may be put in a position where they have an unexpected expense to house the relatives.

"Family can reach out to us and where we can assist we will do so and where we cannot we would be able to be the bridge to point them to the relevant ministries or other services where they could get assistance." She said VoM was the perfect place for returning nationals to access skills training and re-training opportunities.

"We currently provide those opportunities in a range of areas such as agriculture, barbering, air-conditioning repair, and tiling, at the moment.

"We would also be assisting them with legal document retrieval, to try to fast-track that process for their ID cards and stuff like that."

Chance sought to address any public concerns.

"Yes, we have deportees coming in, some of them with serious criminal charges, whether they are sex offenders, drug trafficking, murder, robbery, assault etcetera.

"The thing is that at the end of the day they have been returned and they have to live with us. So what's next?

"I don't think fear and discrimination is the place to start. I think the necessary monitoring of certain individuals, specifically those who have charges and conviction that I mentioned among others, is important."

Chance said the general citizenry want to know that some measures were in place to be able to monitor persons that may pose a risk as it relates to crime.

"But in the main though it is important that we create the space locally here, we put the systems in place – where through VoM or in collaboration with the relevant ministries – to ensure they have the best possible access or ability to be able to reintegrate successfully."

She spoke of deportees getting access to finance, housing, jobs and training.

"These are the systems that we need to ensure are in place specifically for those who on their return really want a fresh start and they are willing to be good contributing citizens."