The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently passed down a decision resulting in the deportation of a former legal resident, once found guilty of carrying out a series of severe felony crimes. Orville Etoria, initially from Jamaica, had his permanent resident status rescinded after receiving multiple convictions including murder and armed robbery, among others.
Etoria’s case is a component of the severe immigration policies following the directives of the Trump era administration. The strategic planning behind such an approach aims to conduct what is labeled as the largest deportation drive in the history of the United States, thereby becoming a cornerstone of the Republican stance on immigration.
The punitive measures of this strategy aren’t limited to those individuals without lawful documentation. Even legal immigrants, including those with approved green cards and visas, have been taken into custody. The objective lies not just in the repatriation of undocumented immigrants, but importantly also extends to the deportation of prior green card holders bearing criminal records.
Etoria, having served a quarter-century in prison for his crimes, received a final ruling on his expulsion from an immigration judge in 2009. Despite this determination, upon his liberation in 2021, he was granted a reprieve contingent upon his adherence to yearly mandated check-ins. However, this liberty came to an abrupt end on July 17, 2025, when he was finally repatriated.
An official from the DHS announced that transgressing the United States’ immigration rules and laws could result in potential deportation to various countries, including CECOT, South Sudan, or Eswatini. Interestingly, these countries may not necessarily be the native countries of the deportees.
Etoria’s case was not isolated but rather a part of a larger group of five men. All of them, possessing criminal records, were subjected to deportation in consonance with Trump’s stringent enforcement of immigration directives. The entire group was dispatched to a correctional facility in Eswatini, an African country located in the southern region of the continent.
None of the deportees, including Etoria, held citizenship in Eswatini. This sparked a statement from Etoria’s aunt, Margaret McKen, who expressed that the appropriate action would have been to deport him to Jamaica, the country where he is legally recognized as a citizen and holder of a valid passport.
In the meantime, the Office of Homeland Security Statistics made an estimate that, as of January 1, 2024, around 12.8 million legal residents with permanent status were residing within the United States.
It has been reiterated by immigration authorities that all green card holders, despite their lawful status in the U.S., who are convicted of a crime could be stripped of their legal status and consequently face deportation.
Moving forward, the aggressive immigration procedures are set to rise substantially. It forms part of the ambitious target set by the administration to ramp up arrest operations related to immigration and achieve an annual goal of well over a million deportations.
The post Former Legal Resident Deported after Felony Convictions: The Orville Etoria Case appeared first on Real News Now.
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