By Nelson A. King
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s
(DA) Office has announced
a major initiative that could
lead to the reduction or removal
of criminal convictions for Caribbean
and other immigrants
who entered into plea agreements
and have convictions for
nonviolent offenses that subject
them to deportation, according
to the Brooklyn-based Caribbean
Guyana Institute for
Democracy (CGID).
CGID’s Guyanese-born president
Rickford Burke, an international
law consultant, told Caribbean
Life on Monday that the
Brooklyn DA’s Office made the
announcement over the weekend
at CGID’s “Immigration, the
Law and You” townhall forum at
the New Life Seven Day Adventist
(SDA) Church in the Brownsville
section of Brooklyn.
“This is a major development
that begins immediate
relief to thousands of Caribbean
and other immigrants,
who are either green card holders,
undocumented or out of
status, who entered plea deals,
which have a deleterious impact
on their immigration status,”
Burke said.
“Thousands of immigrants,
who have been convicted of
nonviolent offenses for which
they rightly suffered serious,
court-imposed penalties and
paid their debt to society, also
face deportation,” he added.
“However, the law and society
never intended to inflict the
double jeopardy of deportation
as a second punishment for the
Caribbean L 8 ife, November 8-14, 2019 BQ
same crime.”
Burke said the DA’s initiative
is, therefore, of “monumental
importance.”
“It forbears the double jeopardy
of deportation as a consequence
of the original conviction
in specific circumstances
and helps keep families together,”
he said.
“Persons with such convictions
for nonviolent offenses
that are categorized by the federal
government as crimes of
‘moral turpitude,’ who believe
they are eligible for consideration
under the aforementioned
initiative should, through their
attorneys, immediately apply to
the Brooklyn DA’s for relief,”
Burke urged.
He said eligible individuals
may also contact him at (518-
882-8270), Attorney Mark Pollard
(646-208-9847), or Attorney
Donnell Suares (917-414-
6896) for further information.
“Under no circumstances
should persons contact the DA’s
office without counsel,” Burke
stressed.
Kamephis Perez, assistant district attorney and special
counsel for Immigration Matters in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s
Offi ce speaking at the CGID forum on Saturday,
Nov. 2. Rickford Burke
Relief for some Caribbean
immigrants facing deportation
Thousands of
immigrants, who
have been convicted
of nonviolent
offenses for which
they rightly suffered
serious, courtimposed
penalties
and paid their debt
to society, also face
deportation.
PATIENTS’
CHOICE
RATED & AWARDED BY PATIENTS
SM