A Rising American Export: Criminal Deportees

A deportee speaks to WCSU students on Brava, Cape Verde in 2009

Since placing all deportations to Haiti on hold due the devastating earthquake in 2010, the US is once again sending illegal immigrants home, including 700 former criminals deported after serving out their sentences in American jails. Returnees to Haiti arrive in a country still recovering from disaster, steeped in poverty and disease, including a recent cholera outbreak. Many of these deportees left Haiti in their youth; they are unable to speak Creole or French, unskilled in the local labor market, without friends and often without family. They are stigmatized, treated with derision and shame, seen as having wasted a chance for a better life in America.

Under the 1996 Immigration Act, illegal immigrants sentenced to a year or more in prison, even if the sentence is suspended, face deportation. According to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, between October, 2009 and September, 2010 a record 392,862 immigrants were deported and half of those had  criminal records. Most of the crimes were drug related, but burglary, assault and murder were also included. According to the web site Three Strikes , 160 countries receive deportees, but approximately 80% are returned to Latin America and the Caribbean.  These countries have high rates of poverty and unemployment making it easy for deportees to fall victim to gangs and other forms of illegal activity in order to fit in and survive. Many foreign government officials insist, though it is difficult to substantiate, that criminal deportees have contributed to a rise in the number of crimes committed, including murder and armed robbery. They are believed to have added to the repertoire of criminal acts with hijackings and drive-by shootings. Some officials report that these new arrivals are better, more sophisticated criminals than those who are native born.

In 2009, as an adjunct professor of anthropology and as their advisor, I traveled with 25 students from Western Connecticut State University's Humanitarian Travel Club to Brava and Fogo, part of a group of islands located west of Senegal comprising the nation of Cape Verde. The nine distinct dialects spoken on these islands divided into two branches. Brava and Fogo are part of the Sotavento Creole group. We visited schools across the islands, donating school backpacks filled with supplies, toothbrushes and dental floss. One of our students, an aspiring dentist, gave demonstrations on dental hygiene. They also participated in meetings with criminal deportees who were mainly from Cape Verdean immigrant communities  in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

On the fishing boat-ferry from Fogo to Brava.

We first visited Brava, a small, rocky, volcanic island with 6,000 inhabitants. It is rustic, mountainous and beautiful. Wild donkeys roam the steep hillsides. Rising seemingly straight from the ocean, there are no sandy beaches, but there is a protected inlet with a pool nesting among rock formations, a beautiful spot for swimming. The island is very poor with limited modern amenities. In the past, American whaling ships would stop on Brava to pick up supplies and personnel. In this way, many Cape Verdeans first made their way to America. Today, Brava receives few foreign visitors and its population decreases annually.

After a flight from the capital, Praia, to Fogo, the trip to Brava took one-hour on a 25 person fishing-boat-cum-ferry. The waters were turbulent, many people got sea- sick, and several dreaded the journey back on the rough seas (they held a 'sisters of the sea' vigil for a safe return the night before we left Fogo). This experience highlighted the social and geographical isolation later expressed by the deportees we met.

Students walking to a village on Brava.

On Brava, not only was there no work, there were no fast food restaurants, no regular transportation, chain stores or cinemas. Movies are shown out of doors on a screen set-up on weekends in the main plaza. Household sundries and clothing could be purchased at the tiny "Chinese store," s small shop selling household goods and clothing. We were guests of the mayor and stayed in houses maintained by the local government for visitors as there was no hotel that could accommodate a group of our size.

We met the deportees right away as they tended to congregate in the center of the main town, Nova Sintra, unemployed with nothing to do. Considered outcasts, the deportees on Brava did not speak the local dialect. They evoked fear in the locals and had virtually no chance of employment. They survived mostly on money sent from home. Meetings with them were organized by Ines Silva of Cape Verde Care. Ms. Silva's organization hopes to bring aid and awareness to this situation. Each deportee (they were mainly men in their 20s and 30s and a few women) told stories of drug and alcohol abuse and violence. Some had trouble walking and talking. Others shouted in frustration, pleaded to be heard. They were angry, sad, inebriated, in many cases in need of psychological and addiction counseling. As they stood in the center of the meeting hall, I remember being struck by the limping bodies and halting, hoarse voices, revealing histories filled with addiction and abuse. The students listened with compassion and set up impromptu AA meetings on street corners and in restaurants. They brainstormed for ways to raise awareness in the US.

On Fogo, the story was the same. However, this island, accessible by plane, is physically larger and has a population of 40,000. It has beautiful black volcanic beaches and a landscape dominated by the volcano Pico do Fogo which rises to almost 3,000 meters. The deportees here gathered in the capital  Sao Filipe in a small sparsely furnished bar that might be described as ‘seedy.’ It depicted an urban hip-hop ‘vibe,’ and seemed frozen in the late 90s, the year the owner, a deportee himself, had been returned Fogo. While some work was available in construction and in other odd jobs, these displaced "Americans" too were for the most part ostracized and feared, unemployed, bored and in limbo regarding their futures. These deportees appeared slightly less vulnerable, slightly more skeptical. They had seen well-intentioned researchers, humanitarians and government officials pass through before and were still waiting for whatever assistance these groups had promised.

Students visit the Tattoo Bar on Fogo. It is a meeting place for deportees

As I observed the American students interact with the deportees on both islands I thought it was just like watching any group of young adults laugh, listen to music, dance, make jokes and enjoy themselves while learning about each other. One student was brought to tears as deportees told her of loss and loneliness, of missing their parents, girlfriends and children. After a night out, one male student commented, “These guys are really nice! Back home, I would probably never meet up with people like this and get to know them.” He seemed struck by their friendliness and 'normality.' I told him he was probably right: how often does a clean-cut, middle-class college senior have a night ‘on the town’ with convicted felons?

Most of these Cape Verdean deportees came to the US with their parents as small children. Hoping for better opportunities, some families ended up with low wage jobs in poor, urban centers with high levels of crime. 

On Cape Verde, a 2007 study of urban crime by the UNHCR showed that a third of criminal deportees had been deported for assault and that one in five had committed drug related crimes. In 2008, Katherine McInerney posted an article in New England Ethnic News entitled, "Cape Verdean Deportees Bring US Problems to the Homeland.”  She reported on a meeting between Massachusetts state representative Marie St. Fleur, a delegation of ex-patriot Cape Verdeans, also from that state, and government officials in Cape Verde regarding the struggles of criminal deportees. The delegates recalled anecdotes of deportees still without money, food, friends and family after 10 or 15 years in the country. There were stories of desperation and of deportees committing suicide.

Deportee (center) and WCSU student in conversation, Brava

Paulo De Barros, president of St. Peter’s Teen Center in Massachusetts said that many deportees suffered from psychological problems that Cape Verde officials were unable to address. He further stated that, “The kids are coming from a violent community, they’re traumatized and the trauma goes with them. They go back and try to get used to a place they haven’t been since they were five, six, seven years old. It’s a whole new process and they still have America as their home because that’s all they know." 

Victor Borges, Cape Verde's Minister of Foreign Affairs, said, "When I was a young boy there was always the verb, 'to be': to be something. Now we speak to our children using much more the verb 'to have.' To have things, to have money . . . but before we have all this we must be something." One could make the argument that the deportees developed cultural identities and honed their criminal skills in America out of need and desperation. Now, we are exporting them and these survival skills abroad.

Deportee tells his story, Brava

A concern I have regarding repatriated criminal deportees is not whether or not they should be sent back to their countries of birth, but the process by which the US evicts these individuals from the very country that has shaped their norms and behaviors, values and world-view.  Spend time speaking to deportees and one finds that everything about them - their music, style of dress, sense of humor and slang - is American but their citizenship. They are returned, often fresh from jail or even the hospital, to Haiti, Cape Verde and elsewhere, often to circumstances even poorer than the ones they left behind, with little or no chance of rehabilitation. In fact, those living on Fogo and Brava told of being shunned as failures. Islanders said, "You were in America, you had a chance, and you didn't succeed." 

Certainly responsibility falls upon the families of the deportees who for whatever reasons failed or were unable to obtain citizenship for their children. Circumstances vary and many may have lacked legal, economic or social support. However, these families on reflection may have considered the consequences of keeping their children in the US illegally, especially if they had knowledge that their children were engaging in illegal drug use or other kinds of criminal activities. It's a difficult and complex issue. It is not just about immigration and crime. It is about poverty, access to education and health, about opportunity.  At this point, I hope that legal and humanitarian efforts can be made by both the US and receiving countries to assist criminal deportees, to help find ways to survive besides engaging in illegitimate opportunities, something that harms them, their communities and their families. 

All photos courtesy of Adam Schwarz.

Bangladesh and India: violence against women



Bably and her mother Parul in 2001



In honor (belatedly) of International Women's Day here is a clip from the video, Undesired, by Walter Astrada for Media Storm. Everyday, women in South Asia face violence simply because they are women. The reasons, a mixture of culture, tradition, economics and power, are complex. 

In 2001, I traveled to Bangladesh with a team of plastic surgeons from Healing the Children who performed reconstructive surgery on 33 survivors of acid violence. Mostly women, they were attacked because their in-laws demanded more dowry, they had spurned sexual advances or, in the case of 18-month old Bably, simply because of their sex. Bably's father attempted to kill his daughter by pouring acid in her mouth and down her throat. His parents - the baby's grandparents - tried to hide the crime; however, Bably's mother Parul was very brave and split with her in-laws to save her daughter. Bably not only survived, but thrived and can be seen here dancing at her birthday party in 2006. 

With Ferdousi, her mother stands to the right

Another survivor, Ferdousi, was 15 years-old and attending school. She said 'no' to a boy who wanted to have sex. After threatening many times to burn her, one day as she left school he threw acid in her face. She lost her sight. Ferdousi attended a school for the blind in Dhaka and received money from the Acid Survivors Foundation for her tuition. Of her case, Anita Bell then working with the foundation asked, "Will Ferdousi get married? To be unmarried in Bangladesh is almost like a bad disease! You have really failed as a woman in Bangladesh to not get married." Ferdousi did complete high school and entered college.

Parveen

While dowry is a traditional and customary exchange of wealth from the bride's family to the wife and her husband at the time of a couple's wedding, often demands continue well into the marriage. Particularly important is the fact that the new couple most often reside with or near the husband's parents and brothers, including married brothers and their families. In one instance, when her family could not pay more dowry, a married woman with three children was held down by her brother-in-law and sister-in-law while her husband poured acid on her genitals. She fled with her children to the Acid Survivors Foundation. Her husband and in-laws received life sentences in prison.

Other reasons for acid violence include land disputes and revenge. Often burned in the night, sometimes children too are harmed while sleeping with their mothers. 

Parveen, pictured here, became our helper at Dhaka Medical College Hospital during the one-week surgical mission. The beautiful girl in pigtails to the right seemed too young for such a tragedy. Many had lost not only their eye sight, but their eyes. They had missing ears and hair and could not close their mouths or turn their heads. All lived at the Acid Survivors Foundation where they received medical care, counseling, vocational training and legal assistance. Most of the time these crimes went unreported. With the international recognition of the  Acid Survivors Foundation, many laws have changed in Bangladesh to limit and control the sale of acid, to assist survivors and to punish perpetrators. However, acid violence continues and it is estimated that someone is burned every two days.



Bably at her birthday party, 2006

In India too women are burned through acid violence. In both India and Bangladesh, girls are seen as a burden on the family. Many female fetuses are aborted or, if carried to term, killed immediately after birth. Raising a daughter is equated with 'watering the garden in another man's yard' and second daughters considered  'born for the burial pit.' 

The following story was published on MediaStorm (the complete story with photos can be found on their web site) by Asia Society Producer Shreeya Sinha, who reported, shot video, and field-produced Undesired by photographer Walter Astrada, winner of the 68th Pictures of the Year International for Multimedia Issue Reporting.  

 
The United Nations reports that at least 40 million women in India have died from neglect or were simply never born in the first place. Dr. Amartya Sen, a Nobel laureate, first applied the term "missing" to this phenomenon in 1986 when he examined India's census data. Among Christians and Muslims, the female to male sex ratios were close to normal. Among Hindus, who make up 80 percent of India's population, the gender imbalance would spark a demographic crisis.

Until the 1980s, when ultrasound machines became more widespread, girls were commonly killed at birth or were neglected of health and nutrition to ensure their death. Baby girls were left in dumpsters, buried in clay pots or poisoned. Shocking, yes, but the practice still continues. Across the country there is a 47 percent excess female child mortality, girls aged 1-to-4 who are dying before their life expectancy because of discrimination. In the north, specifically the wealthy state of Punjab and neighboring Haryana, the excess female child mortality is 81 and 135 percent respectively, according to India's National Family Health Survey. 

The arrival of ultrasound machines, and its subsequent exploitation, ushered in a silent era of organized crime. Now able to identify the sex of a fetus early in pregnancy, parents who learn their child is a girl often abort her. The government has banned abortions based on gender for the last 16 years. Every ultrasound clinic is required to have a poster explaining the law, yet this $250 million business a year flourishes because of deeply entrenched traditions, official apathy and the lucrative business of illegal ultrasounds.


Every day 7,000 female fetuses are aborted in India, according to the UN.

Dr. Shahid Aziz Brings 'Smiles' to Bangladesh

Today, 80 children with cleft lips and palates are waiting for Dr. Shahid Aziz in Khulna, Bangladesh. His team of 13 will spend a week repairing these deformities free of charge. With 162 million people, the small country of Bangladesh is one of the poorest and most densely populated nations in the world. There are an estimated 300,000 children and adults with cleft deformities and only 30 surgeons in the entire country trained specifically in their repair. Indeed, the need is great and the difference this small team can make in the life of an individual equally huge.

With this mission in mind, Dr. Aziz, his wife Anita Puran, and a group of doctors and nurses formed Smile Bangladesh, a non profit medical organization dedicated to caring for children and adults with facial clefts in Bangladesh and around the world. Visit their web site to learn more about their work or join Smile Bangladesh on Facebook.

The photo above was taken in Bangladesh by Bruce Byers (http://www.brucebyers.com/) who has traveled several times in several countries with Dr. Aziz documenting his work. Having traveled to Bangladesh with both, I am sure that, like me, you too will be moved by their generous and dedicated spirits.

Here is a team from 2010 in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh. To the far right, Dr. Shahid Aziz. In the center (not in scrubs) is Christina Rozario, Director of Operations for Smile Bangladesh. Behind, to the right of Christina, are (l to r) Dr. Imre Redai (anesthesiologist) and Dr. Sam Rhee (surgeon), all among the founders of Smile Bangladesh.

Hearts Around the World visits Kenya

Dr. Bob Jarrett is a cardiologist in Brookfield, CT. He is currently in Kenya and you can check out his work at http://blog.ctnews.com/jarrett/. Dr. Jarrett and I first in met in 2000 at a board meeting of Healing the Children, NE, Inc.. In 2001, I went with Dr. Jarrett to St. Petersburg, Russia, as administrator on his cardiac surgery team. In 2003, we traveled with a 20 member cardiac team from the University of California to Hue, Vietnam. While the surgical team, volunteering under the auspices of Healing the Children here in CT conducted surgery, we conducted site visits in Ho Chi Minh City and Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for future cardiac missions. At that time, in Vietnam, cardiac surgery as a surgical specialty had been in place for only four years. If memory serves me correctly, it takes at least 13 years to become a certified cardiac surgeon in the US. Dr. Jarrett saw an incredible need and sought a way to help.

In 2008, Dr Jarrett started his own non-profit, Hearts Around the World, aimed at providing health education and services worldwide. He wanted an organization that gave 100% of donations to people in need. By-passing the cost of an office or staff, Dr. Jarrett organizes all trips on his own, including hotel and airfare. If you make a donation, you will often find you receive a hand written 'thank you' note: how rare is that? In his work, Dr. Jarrett's main focus is on teaching: it takes time but he has the commitment.

Dr. Jarrett began his surgical missions in Russia dozens of years ago when people with cardiac issues went mainly to the hospital to die. He returned year after year, teaching new doctors invasive and non-invasive techniques in cardiology, conducting country-wide seminars, bringing new equipment, and raising the standards of cardiac care across the country. He now has multiple cardiac missions to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam each year. His current site visit to Nairobi, Kenya will hopefully be followed by a long awaited invitation to Cuba.

You can read about a recent trip to Vietnam on the Hearts Around the World web site at http://www.hearts-aroundtheworld.org/ and follow their Kenya trip at http://blog.ctnews.com/jarrett/ which is running this week in the Danbury News Times.

On second thought, Christy Smith and Discovering Deaf Worlds

Christy Smith at the Rehabilitation Center for Children in Kolkata, India

As you read in our blog of India, one of our days in Kolkata was spent at the Rehabilitation Center for Children where we worked on a scroll panel with the kids after watching and listening to the work of the artist, Karuna. Also in attendance were several deaf young adults from a nearby school. Working with them was an American volunteer Christy Smith, also deaf. At first meeting it would be difficult to know that Christy is deaf as she speaks as well as signs and is an easy conversationalist. Christy also came with us to Prayrona 2 when we handed off our digital cameras to kids from the school to photograph their 'world' in the in the Dakshindari slum. Sitting side-by-side in our rented truck, Christy had spoken to us a little about her work and her plans to go back to South America. She and I talked briefly about the difficulty of traveling and maintaining a personal relationship (my advice, take your partner with you!).

It is only now, back at home, that I can decompress all of the wonderful memories of Kolkata and one of those is meeting the extraordinary Christy Smith. I knew she had been the first deaf participant on the reality television show, Survivor, and that she competed in the Amazon. I knew she had been volunteering for many months in Kolkata at a deaf school (and I think it is also an orphanage). I knew also from Rosalie of Empower the Children that Christy had traveled around the world for a year raising awareness on issues of the deaf. I did not know that she had co-founded and sits on the board of directors of Discovering Deaf Worlds. In fact, to quote from her bio on Discovering Deaf Worlds:

A graduate from Gallaudet University with a B.A. in Criminology and Sociology, Smith has held positions as an American Sign Language teacher for various elementary and high school Deaf Education programs, a discovery coordinator and counselor with the Aspen Camp School for the Deaf, facilitator for the Colorado Home Intervention Program, and as a motivational/public speaker across the country.  She created a children's television show called Christy's Kids: Challenge Yourself after surviving 33 out of 39 days as a contestant on CBS’s Survivor: The Amazon (2003).  Smith is currently pursuing her Masters of Science degree in Secondary Education at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Pretty impressive! So here's a shout out to Christy - and if you have a minute check out the work of Discovering Deaf Worlds. Here you can see Christy on YouTube talking about why she decided to go on Survivor: 

Empowering the Children - after the volunteers

Now that we are all back home I expect that the volunteers will all be unpacking not only their suitcases, but their memories of India. As you've read we had a very busy week learning about education, empowerment, friendship and the human spirit. I want to thank Rosalie for teaching us about slum life and the richness of its inhabitants and for sharing her 'kids' at all the Prayrona schools and at Prabartak, planning our programs and making sure we were all happy! When Rosalie's kids are smiling and happy, Rosalie is happy, so I think she had a fabulous week too! Also, thanks to Ashit for keeping an eye on us (and the drivers) and for translating and always being at the end of a cell phone in case we needed him. And Reena, teacher extraordinaire whose smiles and hugs are of the long-lasting type. Maura Hurley, brought her friend, the maker of scrolls, to RCFC and translated this ancient art for the volunteers as Karuna sang. Her daughter, 'mini Maura,' thought up the program at the pre-vocational school for teenage girls and participated with us as well, along with Maura. Always smiling, Maura's kind heart and translation skills regarding not just the Bengali language but the culture were much appreciated.

We plan to post photos of the art of the vocational schools soon and hopefully anyone will be able to purchase hand embroidered saris, note cards and table coverings and help continue the work of Rosalie, Shelley and others in Kolkata. Visit http://www.empower-children.org/ for background and information on these programs - updates are coming to the site as Liz, a college student from Chicago and ETC volunteer, completes her stay in India with Rosalie. Chelsea has remained in India too until mid-February to work with Rosalie.

Finally, thank you to all the volunteers Barry and Andrea, the "Pattys" (Patti and Patty, actually), Gary, Kira, Willson, Tate, Chelsea, Caitlin and David for your hard work, patience and flexibility. Hope to see you all again soon at our reunion with Rosalie when she returns to the US for the summer.

And after India? There are plans in the works for Ecuador (I will post some info from last year's trip), maybe Vietnam? And certainly a return to India in 2012. I will also be occasionally posting news about volunteer opportunities both local and international. It's been wonderful, we will do it again, but 'tata' for now!

Goodbyes

Saturday, we had to get ready to go, and finally to say bye for now. We packed first thing after breakfast, spent a few minutes with Mrs Smith, and after Jeannie settled some business with Ashit, we headed to the internet cafe. Some of us did some shopping there, and then we went over to the Oxford Bookstore on Park Street for a little browsing and some cappuccino. I bought a copy of "If I Were Rain," a great book about the slum kids of Kolkata.

When I got back to the Fairlawn, Mrs Smith and her daughter, Jennie Fowler, were sitting at "the boss's table" talking, and I took the opportunity to get a picture with them. When I showed the shot to them on the camera's screen, Mrs Smith said to me, "You're a good-looking fellow, you know. You're on my list; a bit down on the list, though." I was thrilled to make the list at all. Then she stood to walk over the her waiting car, to go on some errand, I imagine. Jennie took her one arm, and a nurse stood by to take the other, but instead of reaching for the nurse, Mrs Smith grabbed me around the waist and pulled us towards the car. As we started off, she began to skip and sing a nursery rhyme! Jennie just laughed, and away we went. When we got to the car, I helped guide her onto the back seat. I said that I'd miss her, to which she replied, "What are you, a Russian, pining away?" Then I kissed her on both cheeks, and she said "I'll miss you too, David." Wow! Then she pinched my nose between two knuckles, and took her leave on that note. One of a kind, that one.
So here I am now, looking at snow again and missing Kolkata and its memorable people. Our return flight had its assortment of hiccups and near misses, but it all worked out in the end, a lot like Kolkata traffic. It's so hard to capture this place in words or photos, but I've taken a swipe at it in this blog. If you want the whole amazing picture, book your ticket!