Editor,

I was informed this morning by my contact at OTICIDE (Office of Territorial and International Criminal Intelligence and Drug Enforcement) that a notorious gang banger and rapist of Tongan decent is being deported to Tonga from New Zealand. This deportee has spent up to 14 years in jail. OTICIDE is the arm of the FBI and INTERPOL in the Pacific.

American Samoa has problem with law breaking youths that were deported mostly from the US of A. These criminals tend to be more violent and the usage of deadly weapons in the committing these crimes are now common, something that was rarely done in the past.

The Deportees arrived in their homeland with all the criminal attitude and training in tact. It is no surprise that it does not take time for them to emerged from a village setting as a leader of a gang carrying out more criminal activities. Another sad finding is that the US has no obligation to inform the home country of a Deportees status. So, you can have a convicted rapist or murderer of Tongan decent after spending 10 years in San Quintin in California on Monday and walking the street of Nuku'alofa on Friday as a free citizen. The US Court has approved bargaining with criminals who asked to be deported to their homeland instead of serving time in prison.

Tonga's Department of Justice should consider the following:

1. Established system in place to monitor all Deportees with serious criminal records.

Let's call it the Office of Immigration Review (OIR) with one or two people to collect and maintain file.

2. OIR have an agreement with the Deporter Country (DC) to provide information on all Deportees. All court history should be forwarded to the OIR before Deportees is allowed to leave the DC jurisdiction.

3. Deportees that need further rehabilitation or special care, DC should pay for some if not all the expenses.

After all, the Deportees is in this situation while he was in DC. So we can argue that the DC should at least put them back to where they were before deporting them.

4. Home Country (like Tonga) maintain the right not to accept

Deportees back in the country until the above conditions are in place and are met.

A word of advice to Tonga's Justice Department: You must (that's if you do not already have) a system in place to monitor and manage the Deportees.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you need my assistance.

Mafi 'o Amerika Samoa Lousiale Kava.

slkava [at] samoatelco [dot] com