Jamaica Trafficking to the US Under Guise of Adoption-J$60K per child UPDATED

By on 12-17-2011 in Hyacinth Ford-Dryden, International Adoption, Jamaica, Trafficking, US

Jamaica Trafficking to the US Under Guise of Adoption-J$60K per child UPDATED

“THE lives of 17 Jamaican children in the United States may today be in danger after they were adopted and shipped off to that country by a woman the local police believe may be part of a major human trafficking ring operating between both countries.

Local police, with the help of US law enforcement officials, are currently trying to track down the children, aged between five and 16. Detectives believe that more than the 17 children could well have been victims of the illicit trade.

The human trafficking scheme was uncovered last week after the woman — a 53-year-old resident of Pleasant District in Bog Walk, St Catherine — was arrested by the Flying Squad at the United States Embassy in Kingston where she had presented forged documents in an effort to secure a US visa for a 16-year-old girl whom she had recently adopted.
Detectives believe that the woman had been operating the scheme for about two years before she was arrested.
In the latest case, a senior police source told the Observer that the woman had promised the 16-year-old that she would be sending her to the United States to work.
“She did not say what type of work it was, but she told her that she was going there to work,” said the source.
The teen has since been taken into State care.
According to the source, the accused, when cautioned, told the police that she was being paid J$60,000 for each child she sent to the United States.
So far, she has been charged with forging adoption papers for which she is scheduled to appear before the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
However, the woman could be slapped with human trafficking charges as detectives deepen that aspect of their investigation.
The police are yet to determine if the children who were sent abroad were adopted from families or from any of the State-owned places of safety. Detectives are also trying to determine whether any of the children are among the hundreds who have been reported missing.
The woman is being held at Duhaney Park Police Station.”

BUSTED! – Suspected human trafficker arrested
[Jamaica Observer 12/17/11]

Update: Hyacinth “Ford-Drysden, the 53-year-old woman suspected of trafficking 17 or more Jamaican children to the United States, was yesterday remanded in custody when she appeared before the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court.

Ford-Drysden is to reappear in court on January 3 when a bail application is expected to be made on her behalf by attorney Everton Dewar. Yesterday, Dewar was set to make the application but declined as the case file against Ford-Drysden was incomplete.
The detective investigating the case told the court that he was strongly opposed to the accused woman being admitted to bail.
Ford-Drysden — who is of a Bog Walk, St Catherine address — is charged with forgery, possession of forged documents and uttering forged documents. However, the court was told that human-trafficking charges were pending.
The alleged human-trafficking scheme was uncovered on December 8 after Ford-Drysden was arrested by the Flying Squad at the United States Embassy in Kingston where she had presented forged documents in an effort to secure a US visa for a 16-year-old girl whom she had tried passing off as her child.
A senior police source told the Observer that the woman had promised the 16-year-old that she would be sending her to the United States to work. The mother of the child, the Observer has been told, was not aware of Ford-Drysden’s scheme. The teen has since been taken into State care.
Detectives believe that the woman had been operating the scheme for about two years before she was arrested and that she had also passed off the other children she sent abroad as her own when she secured visas for them at the United States Embassy in Kingston.
Local police, with the help of US law enforcement officials, are currently trying to track down the children, aged between five and 16.
According to the police source, the accused, when cautioned, told the police that she was being paid J$60,000 for each child she sent to the United States.
The police are trying to determine if the children who were sent abroad were taken from families or removed from any of the State-owned places of safety. Detectives are also trying to determine whether any of the children are among the hundreds who have been reported missing.”

Woman accused of human trafficking remanded
[Jamaica Observer 12/20/11]

“A woman accused of trafficking children into the US using fraudulent adoption papers was denied bail when she appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrates Court today

53-year-old bar owner Hyacinth Ford Dryden of Bog Walk in St. Catherine is facing charges of possession of forged documents, uttering forged documents and forgery.
Today, the court was told that police needed more time to wrap up their investigations into accusation that Mrs. Ford Dryden has been trafficking children ages 6 to 17 years, into the US over a 2 year period.

Bail application was made, but was turned down, on the basis that police are conducting investigations into several other cases involving several other children.

Its reported that police were trying to locate the 16 children that Ford Dryden had adopted.

The police say they are seeking the assistance of US law enforcement agencies to help locate some of the children, many of whom are believed to have already left the country.

Ford Dryden was arrested on December 8, after she went to the US Embassy in Kingston, with a 16 year old girl to obtain a visa.
Ford Dryden reportedly claimed that she was the girl’s adopted mother and produced forged adoption documents.
The girl is now in the custody of the state.

Senior Resident Magistrate Judith Pusey remanded Ford Dryden until January 3 next year.”

Woman charger in relation to child trafficking remanded
[IRIEFM 12/19/11]

“The police later made contact with the mother of the teen who told them that she was in hospital getting treatment and did not give anyone any authority to obtain a visa for her daughter.

The mother told the cops her daughter was not lost and she was baffled as to how Ms Dryden got hold of her child.

In their investigation of the case, the police and US embassy officials have come up with the pictures of 17 children whose photos were submitted to the embassy by Ms Dryden for visas, claiming she was their adopted mother. The children ages 6 to 16 years—-12 girls and five boys, cannot be located.

It’s believed many of them have been smuggled into the United States as part of the human trafficking ring.

The cops believe Ms Dryan has been flying the children to the US over the last several years.

A police source told RJR News that they are now compiling pictures of the children which will be published in the media.

She reportedly admitted to collecting payments of 60-thousand dollars per child.”

Woman at centre of human trafficking ring denied bail
[RJR News Online 12/19/11]

Update 2: The number trafficked is reportedly more than 17 now. The US Embassy and all US media outlets remain silent on this story. Adoptions to the US increased from 59 in FY 2010 to 100 in FY2011. Sudden increases in international adoptions have been red flags in many countries that have been temporarily or permanently shut down.

“THE number of Jamaican children allegedly trafficked to the United States by 53-year-old Hyacinth Ford-Drysden has increased from the 17 earlier identified by investigators.

News of the increase in the number of young victims was yesterday delivered in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court where Ford-Drysden appeared in relation to the allegations against her.
However, the court was not told how many more victims were discovered by investigators who have been working with United States officials since early last month on the case.
Also, yesterday the court was told that investigators were in possession of statements from parents who said they were not aware of their children being adopted and sent abroad.
These developments, coupled with the fact that the police are still conducting investigations, resulted in the accused woman’s attorney, Everton Dewar, postponing an expected bail application. However, Dewar asserted that his client should not be allowed to languish behind bars while the police build a case against her.
Ford-Drysden, who is of a Bog Walk, St Catherine, was yesterday remanded in custody until January 26.
She is currently charged with forgery, possession of forged documents, and uttering forged documents. However, the court was told that the human-trafficking charges were pending.
The alleged scheme was uncovered on December 8 after Ford-Drysden was arrested by the Flying Squad at the United States Embassy in Kingston, where she had presented forged documents in an effort to secure a US visa for a 16-year-old girl whom she had tried passing off as her child.
A senior police source told the Observer that the woman had promised the 16-year-old that she would send her to the United States to work. The teen has since been taken into State care.
Ford-Drysden is suspected to have been operating the scheme for about two years before she was arrested, and that she had also sent other children abroad, claiming they were her own offspring when she secured visas for them at the United States Embassy in Kingston.
The children are between the ages five and 16 years old.
According to a police source, the accused, when cautioned, told the police that she was being paid $60,000 for each child she sent to the United States.
The police are trying to determine if the children who were sent abroad were taken from families or removed from any of the State-owned places of safety. Detectives are also trying to determine whether any of the children are among the hundreds who have been reported missing.”

More Jamaican children said trafficked to US[Jamaica Observer 1/4/12 by Paul Henry]

“Miss Dryden was arrested at the US Embassy in Kingston early last month after she reportedly tried to obtain a visa for a 16-year-old girl, she claimed she had adopted.

However, investigators later found out the adoption was illegal and the woman was linked to scores of other missing children.

The cops say she admitted to collecting $60,000 per child.

The case prompted child advocate organizations to repeat urgent calls for the establishment of a separate police unit to deal specifically with missing children.

They say although the majority of missing children return home, a significant number are never heard from again.”

Major player in child trafficking ring to appear in court
[RJR News Online 1/3/12]

“After being denied bail by Senior Resident Magistrate Judith Pusey, Ford-Dryden was ordered to be taken back to court on January 26 when the case will be mentioned.

The 53-year-old bar operator, of Bog Walk, St Catherine, is charged with possession of forged documents and uttering forged documents. The court was informed that there were human-trafficking charges pending against Ford-Dryden.

She is being represented by attorney-at-law Everton Dewar.

Forged documents

The Crown is alleging that, on December 8 last year, Ford-Dryden went to the United States Embassy to get a non-immigrant visa for a 16-year-old girl who she claimed was her adopted daughter. It is being alleged that it was suspected that the documents she presented were forged and the police were called in to investigate the matter. She was arrested and charged with forgery.

Following Ford-Dryden’s arrest, the police launched an intensive investigation into the trafficking of persons’ cases. The police suspect that the woman had been involved in the scheme for several years and had allegedly sent at least 17 children between the ages of five and 16 to the United States.
Steps are now being taken by the police with the assistance of US law enforcement officials to find the children.”

Suspected child trafficker faces court
[The Gleaner 1/4/12]

Update 3: “The police have now accounted for all the children sent to the United States in what is believed to be a human trafficking ring run by St Catherine resident Hyacinth Ford-Drysden.

Yesterday, an update on the children’s status was made to the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court where 53-year-old Ford-Drysden was offered bail in the sum of $1 million.
Superintendent Cornwall ‘Bigga’ Ford told the court that only eight children were sent abroad and of that number, three have returned to Jamaica.
He said that Ford-Drysden had sought United States visas for seven other children but the documents not were issued.
The police had initially thought that Ford-Drysden had sent 17 children to the United States.
Yesterday, Superintendent Ford told the Court that the investigation has unveiled a case of visa fraud. But he was quick to add that he was not saying that human trafficking did not occur.
“The investigation is continuing,” said the superintendent, who offered no opposition to Ford-Drysden being granted bail.
Additionally, Superintendent Ford said that at least one of the parents of those sent abroad was aware of the alleged visa fraud.
Ford-Drysden, who is being represented by attorney Everton Dewar, is to return to court on March 2. Her United States visa has been cancelled.
Ford-Drysden — who lives in High Mountain, St Catherine — is charged with forgery, possession of forged documents and uttering forged documents.
The alleged human trafficking scheme was uncovered on December 8 after Ford-Drysden was arrested by the Flying Squad at the United States Embassy in Kingston where she had presented forged documents in an effort to secure a US visa for a 16-year-old girl whom she had tried passing off as her child.
A senior police source told the Observer that the woman had promised the 16-year-old that she would be sending her to the United States to work. The mother of the child, the Observer has been told, was not aware of Ford-Drysden’s scheme. The teen has since been taken into State care.
Detectives believe that the woman had been operating the scheme for about two years before she was arrested and that she had also passed off the other children she sent abroad as her own when she secured visas for them at the United States Embassy in Kingston.
The children sent away are between ages five and 16.
A police source told the Observer that the accused, when cautioned, told the police that she was being paid J$60,000 for each child she sent to the United States.”

Woman accused of human trafficking offered bail
[Jamaica Observer 1/27/12 by Paul Henry]

REFORM Puzzle Pieces

Trafficking2

This is one of the clearer cases involving trafficking. The parents were unaware of the adoption and immigration. It bears repeating that the parents of these children are NOT birthparents but CRIME VICTIMS who are also parents. Will the US assist in getting these children back to their parents? They have not assisted Anyeli yet.

Visa2

This again puts a spotlight on how much scrutiny is really being given before issuing adoption visas. More than 17 children in the past few years? That is over 10 percent of children placed to the US. Sadly that statistic pales in comparison to Nepal’s 90 percent of children in orphanages  being trafficked and Guatemala’s 90 percent of adoption cases from 2007 to 2010 that were NOT of abandoned or orphaned children and 60 percent of cases that contained significant errors.

Update 4: “Jamaicans in South Florida have expressed concern regarding the growing number of Jamaican teenagers, mainly girls, reported missing, leading to speculation of human trafficking. Almost daily for the past several weeks the Jamaican media has published “Ananda Alerts” notifying the public of missing teens.

Just last year a 53-year-old Jamaican woman was arrested in Jamaica on suspicion of trafficking some 17 Jamaican children to the U.S. The woman was arrested when caught falsely applying for a U.S. visa for a 16-year-old girl whom she tried passing off as her child. The woman allegedly promised the teen work in the U.S. Jamaican police believe the woman had been operating the visa scheme for two years before her arrest. The woman admitted to being paid J$60,000 for each child sent to the U.S. Jamaican detectives are trying to determine whether any of the children are among the hundreds of Jamaican children reported missing.

Some strides have been made to tackle the issue. Last week, Permanent Secretary for the Jamaican Ministry of National Security, Dianne McIntosh, announced an increased number of rescued human trafficking victims. McIntosh credited the rescues to ongoing government interventions through the National Task Force against Trafficking in Persons.

In addition, the ministry has trained 15 telephone operators from the 811/Crime Stop hotline and the Office of the Children’s Registry (OCR) in Trafficking in Persons hotline telephone management. The International Organization for Migration (IOM), which has helped victims with repatriation, also established an action plan to address migration and train frontline personnel.

The main forms of abuse reported were physical, sexual and emotional, plus reports of neglect, trafficking and child labor. Despite the increase in reports, the OCR believes there are still a large number of unreported cases in Jamaica.”

Jamaica tackles trafficking of children
[CN Weekly 2/16/12]

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