Jamaican man repatriated following US deportation to Eswatini

 

Just two days before the Eswatini government was due to return to court to answer the legal challenge mounted against its decision to accept deportees from the United States, Jamaican-born Orville Etoria was the first of five immigrants to be repatriated.

 

Eswatini-based human rights advocates say their efforts along with those of the Jamaican government were critical in the complex and sensitive diplomatic activities that are still ongoing.

 

Radio Jamaica News on Monday received official correspondence released by the Eswatini government that Etoria has arrived in Jamaica on Sunday, September 21. 

 

He was initially deported to Eswatini in July under the United States' third country prisoners programme.

 

Etoria was among five immigrants who were being held in a maxiumum security facility without legal representation. 

 

Radio Jamaica News has been informed that engagements with the remaining four immigrants from Cuba, Laos, Vietnam and Yemen are ongoing, with a view to have them returned to their home countries. 

 

According to the Eswatini government, Etoria was voluntarily repatriated to Jamaica without any compulsion. He was reportedly welcomed by family members. 

 

Eswatini-based attorney Mzwandile Masuku welcomed the return but expressed concern over the process.  

 

"It is positive news, mostly because we have known for quite a while that his country was ready and willing to accept him. We also welcome learning that the country worked with the International Organization of Migration, which is part of what we had raised initially. It's concerning that this matter is dealt with in some secrecy in that we only learned of the positive development at the tail end when it is concluded and there are already two applications in court that relates to these matters," he noted. 

 

Etoria was convicted for second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree in 1997. 

 

He pursued higher education in prison and later enrolled in a master's programme, graduating in 2018. 

 

He was paroled three years later. 

 

The New York-based Legal Aid Society, which had also been providing representation for Etoria, said he complied with the law and regularly reported to the immigration customs enforcement under an order of supervision despite contradictory claims from the agency. 

 

And as several Jamaicans have welcomed Etoria's repatriation, others have expressed concern about public safety and security in relation to deportees. 

 

This, following the deadly four-hour long standoff on September 9 involving the police and a Canadian deportee, Dave Alfrancis Wilson, also known as 'Brown Man'.

 

Wilson, who is suspected to have killed a man during an earlier dispute, was fatally shot by police after he engaged them in a shootout.