Belizean Deportees Arrive Amid Growing U.S. Immigration Fears  

Last month, Belize saw the largest group of deportees arrive on a single flight, twenty-one Belizeans were sent home on a chartered plane arranged by the Trump administration. The move sends a strong message about the U.S. president’s tough stance on immigration. Across the U.S., many foreign nationals are growing anxious about the possibility of being deported. But not everyone believes the fear is justified. We spoke with Faron Smith, a Belizean green card holder who’s lived in the U.S. since 1998. He admitted he was initially worried when reports surfaced about ICE agents patrolling neighborhoods in Los Angeles. But now, he believes much of the panic is being fueled by fearmongering. Smith says law-abiding residents shouldn’t live in fear, and that staying informed and calm is key.

 

Faron Smith, Belizean Living in U.S.A.

“I haven’t seen that happen. You know what I mean? To me, that’s just propaganda. And I know that, a lot of these things are like political wars and a lot of the stations, they sway either one side of the spectrum or the other side. And so they’re going to always say something that is not true or they just blow it out a person a little bit and and then, make the people be in fear and then people react emotionally and do a lot of bad things, so is it that then you you haven’t changed much of a daily routines because of the enforcement of Trump’s immigration policies?  I haven’t changed anything because, like I said, I have migraine card and I also, I’m a better run outta the United States Navy. I, so I don’t live in fair, none whatsoever, but I know, I see other people that are afraid and, to me, some of it is about they don’t have the right information and all of that stuff. If you have the information, you have no reason to be afraid. They can’t do you anything if you have your stuff together, if you’re not a criminal, because I don’t see them really going after people that didn’t do something wrong.”

 

Hipolito Novelo

“Do you know of any Belizeans over that side living in fear because of the immigration policies?”

 

Faron Smith

“I could see the fear happening. I see like some of the festivals decided to cancel. And I see in LA PG Hole, which is one of the, one of the cultural places that, promote Belizean culture and they closed down too. So people are in fear, but I think that a lot of times it’s because of misinformation, just how I feel. I think it’s misinformation. They don’t have the right. I have somebody that’s telling them, listen, this that. Because I went to a store the other day, a Belizean market in LA and I asked the person that was there, and the owner, she, me and her were having a conversation and she said, man, look what’s happening. And I asked her, I said, have you heard of anybody from our community, any Belizean in LA? Have you heard of even one that any of these things happened to yet? And she said No. And I said, okay. I haven’t heard of one either, and I’ve been here twenty something years. I know a lot. I know most, a lot of people I’m well known in this community. I have a lot of family here and I know a lot of illegals here, a lot of Ians that are illegal here. And guess what, if we don’t have even one person, then what is that saying to you?”