Deportation is a situation where one is forced to leave a foreign country. At this point, there is no choice to make; one has to leave the country. This happens in the case that the individual has broken the law. In the United States, the department in charge of deportation is USCI. People are deported from the United States if they are sentenced to jail for over one year, regardless of the charges they are facing. It does not matter whether the individual committed the crime in the past. The United Governments therefore embarks on seeking criminal immigrants so that they can be deported.
George Boley, a Liberian was one of the people that was deported from the United States. He was accused of committing crimes against humanity during the Liberia civil war where more than two hundred and fifty thousand people lost their lives (US. Department of Homeland Security). Initially, Boney worked in the government of Liberia as one of the administrators. He later left to the United States after the murder of President Samuel Doe. He later contested for the presidential seat after which he lost. This is when the second bit of the war erupted. He went back to Liberia in 1993 and formed Liberian Peace Council. This is considered to be one of the groups that participated in the civil war between 1989 and 2003. The LPC was one of the groups that committed serious human abuses. One of the highlights is the execution of fourteen of his soldiers.
One of the accusations that Boley met was that of hiring child soldiers. He was said to have left his permanent resident status, something that was unlawful. He failed to present charges right in order for him to enter the U.S. The case of Boney was considered to be the first one for the United States to deport someone accused of hiring underage soldiers.
Deportation is a very important aspect for each nation. One of the major roles it upholds is the integrity of the nation. The United States integrity would have been questioned if they went on hosting Boley. Many criminals go into hiding after they have committed their crimes. Boley was running away after committing crimes. The firm United States Immigration and Custom Enforcement officials did not give him a comfortable hiding place. If this country embraced this firmness, criminals will not have places to escape to.
The other key point is that the United States did not consider the social status of Boney for them to take action. The Liberian Government may not have been able to take a firm action like the United States did. Many African countries have suffered because of criminals that are ranked high (US. Department of Homeland Security). The people suffer under instruction of individuals who seem to be above the law. The United States did their investigations and accused Boley of the crimes. This is something that would have rarely taken place in his own country. Having been deported by the United States, no other country would have wanted to host him. His hiding places were all closed down.
One major point to note is that money does not shield one from charges. Boley had all the money he needed to defend him and run away from the crimes he committed. The United States action of deporting him was not dependent on his money. The major question was on his criminal acts. Though he denied it together with his family, the law got him detained first for two years and then deported back to his country. This deportation is quite interesting since it is a good lesson to all criminals who think they can commit crime and run away to live comfortably in major countries like the United States while the victims of their action are left suffering.
References
US. Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved from: https://canton.sin.sunny.edu/AngelUploads/content/201302-CAN-LEST-375-OW1/_assoc/B50CB2C50AF64C9D893FA201B1D8D8C4/Boley Deportation Proceedings.pdf
US. Department of Homeland Security. Retrievedfrom:http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20120207/NEWS01/202070317/George%20Boley%20Immigration%20and%20Custpms%20Enforcement?gcheck=1
Retrieved from: http://www.kateraynor.com/articles/usa-deportation.html
