Four Antiguans and Barbudans were among the 32 nationals of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) who were deported from the United States last year.

This is according to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Annual Report.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines topped the list with ten deportees; five were Dominicans; and four each were also deported from, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Lucia.

The ICE report did not clearly outline the reasons for the deportations or the offenses they committed.

It said those removed included noncitizens arrested by ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in the interior of the United States, as well as those apprehended by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) along the Southwest Border and subsequently transferred to ERO for removal.

The report said that in 2022, ERO conducted nearly twice the number of administrative arrests it made in 2021.

However, while the number of administrative arrests of noncitizens with criminal histories in 2022 was comparable to 2021, the number of arrests in the category of “other immigration violators” increased significantly as a result of the increase in Border Patrol encounters and ERO’s assistance to CBP in completing the processing of these cases in the interior United States. (St Kitts Nevis Observer)