Adrian Frater, News Editor
This Haitian boy looks out a bus window as he and other former refugees await immigration processing prior to departing for Port-au-Prince, Haiti from the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay yesterday. - ADRIAN FRATER PHOTO
WESTERN BUREAU:
THE GOVERNMENT of Jamaica repatriated 78 Haitian nationals via chartered flight to their homeland early yesterday afternoon at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay.
The Haitians' bids for asylum in Jamaica were reportedly turned down by a United Nation's ad hoc committee headed by Jamaican jurist, Justice Lloyd Ellis. Four of those repatriated had been arrested by law enforcement officials for illegal entry into Jamaica and were never a part of those who had entered the country during the Haitian political crisis.
According to the Ministry of National Security, another 40 Haitians are expected to be repatriated in the coming weeks.
Only five persons have been successful in the appeals process. Yesterday, the Haitians were transported by bus from their adopted home at the Montpelier camp to the airport as part of a joint police/military convoy.
CHARTER AIRCRAFT TO PORT-AU-PRINCE
On their arrival at the charter terminal section of the airport the Haitians, some of them wearing black, green and gold Jamaican bandanas, were swiftly processed by immigration officials, following which they boarded the charter aircraft destined for Port-au-Prince - the Haitian capital.
In speaking to the failed asylum bids of the Haitians who were sent home, Gilbert Scott, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security, said most of them had not met the criteria hence the decision to send them back to Haiti.
Wilton Dyer, the Public Relations Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that of the recent 147 appeals reviewed by the Appeals Tribunal, only five persons had been successful.
"Of the 147 appeals processed, a family of five persons had their appeals for asylum upheld," Mr. Dyer said.
In the meantime, there are 90 Haitians remaining at the Montpelier camp. The Winifred Camp in Portland has been closed.
