Press Release: The Case of 2 Deportees from the United States of America to Sierra Leone

Case of 2 Deportees from US to SL

Press Release

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation wishes to inform the public that, the case of the two deportees from the United States of America to Sierra Leone; Mr. Prince A. Latoya and Mr. Saren Idaho claiming to be citizens of the Commonwealth nations of Dominica and The Bahamas respectively are under investigations, on how they ended up in Sierra Leone.

In mid last year, it was ascertained in Washington DC that they were Sierra Leoneans when birth certificates of supposedly Sierra Leonean origin were found on them and both men were vehemently claiming to be Sierra Leoneans based on which the Emergency Travel Certificates (ETC) were issued for their deportation by the United States Immigration and Customs enforcement agency (ICE).On arrival in Sierra Leone and upon closer examination by competent authorizes in Freetown early this year, the birth certificates were found to be false.

The Ministry of foreign affairs and international cooperation has since established that the deportees made a new claim of being citizens of the commonwealth nations of Dominica and Bahamas by giving fresh bio data to substantiate their claims.

With these new biodata, the Ministry, instructed its Embassy in Washington D.C, United States of America to contact the embassies of the Commonwealth nations of the Dominica and The Bahamas for verification.

In the case of Saren Idaho, the Embassy of the Commonwealth of the Dominica has denied his claims to citizenship due to lack of records in their civic registration data bank. In the case of Prince Latoya, our Embassy in Washington is awaiting for response from the Embassy of the Commonwealth of Bahamas for a meeting request to discuss his claims to citizenship to that Nation.

The Ministry continues to engage with relevant stake holders in Sierra Leone and in the United States of America to ascertain the true nationalities of these deportees to facilitate their eventual repatriation from Sierra Leone.  

Meanwhile, the Ministry is providing money to Mr. Idaho to access medical services. Essential items, accommodation and food have also been provided to both of them.

 

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SIGNED 

Alimatu Fofanah

Head of Section Media and Public Relations Department

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation

OAU Drive, Tower Hill, Freetown, Sierra Leone

Website: www.mofaic.gov.sl

Email: media@mofaic.gov.sl

Contact: +232 78 861 822/77 713 939