News Americas, OLD ORCHARD BEACH, Maine, Aug. 20, 2025: A Jamaican immigrant who overstayed his visa and later worked as a reserve police officer in Maine has agreed to leave the United States voluntarily after federal agents detained him when he tried to buy a firearm.

A judge on Monday granted the departure order for Jon Luke Evans, who served this summer with the Old Orchard Beach Police Department, according to WMTW-TV. He must cover his own travel costs and exit the country within a set period.

Evans legally entered the U.S. on a week-long visa in September 2023 but failed to leave when it expired. He later passed background checks via the E-Verify system, and training, before being hired in May as a seasonal officer in the busy tourist town.

Federal immigration agents detained Evans on July 25th in Biddeford after the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives flagged his attempt to purchase a gun. He was initially held in Massachusetts before being transferred to a detention center in Rhode Island.

The Old Orchard Beach Police Department said it relied on the Department of Homeland Security’s E-Verify system to confirm Evans’ work eligibility and believed his documents were valid. Police Chief Elise Chard said the town was “distressed and deeply concerned” by what appeared to be a federal error.

Federal officials countered that employers should not rely solely on E-Verify and must take additional steps to confirm immigration status.

Evans’ role as a reserve officer did not allow him to carry personal firearms or department-issued weapons off duty. The town said it expects him to comply with the judge’s voluntary departure order.

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Aug. 15, 2025: Two CARICOM nations are in the thick of election fever, with voters in Guyana and Jamaica set to choose new governments next month. Guyana heads to the polls on September 1, 2025, followed by Jamaica on September 3, 2025.

In Jamaica, the campaign trail has been rocked by controversy. The ruling Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) campaign chairman, Dr. Christopher Tufton, has been given a deadline to retract a recording of retired opposition legislator K.D. Knight that was played at a mass JLP rally on Sunday.

FLASHBACK – A polling station in Tivoli Gardens, in West Kingston on December 29, 2011. (Photo credit – Ratiba HAMZAOUI/AFP via Getty Images)

In the clip, Knight appeared to express no confidence in People’s National Party (PNP) leader Mark Golding — but Knight’s legal team claims the recording was manipulated. The law firm Knight, Junior & Samuels has demanded a public retraction and apology by 11:00 a.m. Friday, to be published across all media and JLP social platforms. The firm warned that a retraction would not prevent legal action, though it could help reduce reputational damage.

Meanwhile, in a political twist, the Jamaica First Movement (JFM) — led by clergyman Rev. Al Miller — has joined forces with the Jamaica Progressive Party (JPP) to form a united front in the election. JPP President Gilbert Edwards hailed the merger as “historic” and “a necessary act of national service,” pledging unity, purpose, and people-centered politics. The main contest still pits the JLP against the PNP, with the new alliance aiming to shake up the political landscape.

The vote in Jamaica comes on the heels of a 2024 Integrity Commission (IC) report that found insufficient evidence to charge Prime Minister Andrew Holness, over the alleged non-disclosure of four joint bank accounts.

The IC’s probe, covering 2018–2023, examined 3,600 transactions, 28 accounts, and over 80 witness statements. Holness says the accounts in question were dormant, with minimal balances, and in some cases opened by his parents decades ago.

Holness rejected findings of a J$1.9M unexplained increase in his net worth in 2022, citing calculation errors, and denied hindering the investigation. Holness also criticized the IC law, calling for urgent reforms to prevent politicization and ensure focus on “relevant, significant and material issues.”

GUYANA

In Guyana, the newly formed We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party, led by US-sanctioned businessman Azruddin Mohamed, is making waves. The ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has alleged that Mohamed sought a Venezuelan visa and visited the Venezuelan embassy — claims he strongly denies.

“Produce the evidence! I have never visited the Venezuelan Embassy, nor applied for a visa to Venezuela,” Mohamed slammed back, calling the accusations “baseless, malicious, and politically motivated.” He accused the PPP/C of using the allegations to distract from alleged corruption exposed on social media.

The Guyanese government confirmed it had summoned Venezuela’s Ambassador Carlos Amador Perez Silva over what it described as “frequent visits” to the embassy by members of the Mohamed family.

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has approved six political parties for the September 1 vote:

A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)

Alliance for Change (AFC)

Assembly of Liberty and Prosperity (ALP)

Forward Guyana Movement (FGM)

People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C)

We Invest in Nationhood (WIN)

With just weeks to go, both Jamaica and Guyana are seeing intensified campaigning, legal battles, and new alliances — setting the stage for two high-stakes elections that could reshape the political direction of each nation.

News Americas, WASHINGTON, D.C., Tues. Aug. 12, 2025: The United States government has announced a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Haitian gang leader Jimmy Cherizier, better known as “Barbecue.”

Sanctioned Gang Leader Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Cherizier with G-9 federation gang members in the Delmas 3 area on February 22, 2024 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (Photo by Giles Clarke/Getty Images)

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs revealed the offer under the Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program (TOCRP). The bounty is linked to Cherizier’s leadership of Viv Ansanm, a gang designated by the Secretary of State on May 2, 2025, as both a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT).

U.S. authorities say Cherizier is a central figure in the spiraling gang violence gripping Haiti and is directly tied to mass murders, rapes, and other severe human rights abuses against Haitian civilians.

Cherizier was previously sanctioned in December 2020 – alongside two Haitian public officials – under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act for his alleged role in the La Saline massacre.

The latest announcement comes alongside the unsealing of an indictment in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Prosecutors have charged Cherizier with conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Authorities allege that he conspired to evade restrictions imposed by the U.S. in 2020.

His co-defendant, Brazile Richardson, appeared in court in Washington, D.C., today.

The TOCRP reward program aims to disrupt global transnational crime and bring fugitives to justice. Those with information are urged to contact:

FBI: 1-800-CALL-FBI or tips.fbi.gov

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI): 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or ice.gov/webform/ice-tip-form

Tips can also be provided at any U.S. Embassy or Consulate worldwide. All identities will be kept strictly confidential, officials stressed.

By NAN Staff Writer

News Americas, UNITED NATIONS, NY, Aug. 11, 2025:The oil rich South American CARICON nation of Guyana has joined mounting global calls for Israel to reverse a controversial cabinet decision to take control of Gaza City by October 7, 2025 – a move critics say will expel thousands of Palestinians, deepen the humanitarian crisis, and effectively end the two-state solution.

Students of Birzeit University stage a protest for Al Jazeera reporters who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a tent reserved for journalists at the entrance to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, near Ramallah in the West Bank on August 11, 2025. (Photo by Issam Rimawi/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Speaking at the UN Security Council on Sunday, Guyana’s Permanent Representative, Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, warned that the planned occupation threatens not only the stability of the Middle East but also global peace.

“We, the Security Council, must respond to the fact that over 61,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7, and this number increases every single day,” she said, condemning any form of collective punishment against Gaza’s civilian population.

FLASHBACK – Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Permanent Representative of Guyana to the UN and president of the Security Council for the month of June, speaks during a UN Security Council meeting on threats to international peace and security at the United Nations Headquarters on June 13, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

While reaffirming Guyana’s condemnation of Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel, Rodrigues-Birkett stressed that no act of violence can justify what she described as “the mass displacement, death, and destruction now unfolding.”

Guyana outlined key demands, including:

Reversing the planned occupation of Gaza City.

Agreeing to an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire.

Withdrawing to pre-1967 borders in line with UN resolutions and the International Court of Justice advisory opinion.

Granting unrestricted humanitarian access to civilians in need.

The envoy also called for the release of all hostages and stronger protections for UN personnel and humanitarian workers operating in the besieged territory.

Two top UN officials echoed the warnings. Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas, cautioned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s push for “total military control” and an alternative civilian administration in Gaza could “ignite another horrific chapter of displacement, death, and destruction.”

“If implemented, these plans will likely trigger another calamity in Gaza, reverberating across the region,” Jenča said, urging full compliance with international humanitarian law.

Senior humanitarian official Ramesh Rajasingham warned that hunger-related deaths in Gaza are already rising, with humanitarian lifelines collapsing under sustained bombardment and insufficient aid.

The Israeli government has defended its military operations as essential to defeating Hamas, but critics insist the latest decision risks plunging Gaza — and the wider region — into an even deeper humanitarian disaster.

Over 60,000 Dead in Gaza as Israel Expands Offensive

More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, compared to 1,200 Israelis killed and 250 taken hostage in Hamas’ initial attack. The Israeli military admitted Sunday to deliberately killing Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif and four colleagues in a strike on their tent outside al-Shifa Hospital, bringing the toll of media workers killed to over 230.

Fresh bombings continued across the enclave as Israel allowed only limited airdrops of aid, while the UN Security Council met to condemn Israel’s occupation plans. Most members rejected the move, but the US defended Israel and blamed Hamas. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters that seizing Gaza City was “the fastest way” to end the war.

Meanwhile, violent Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians in the West Bank, including a village in Hebron, as soldiers carried out new raids and supported the settler assaults.

By NAN News Editor

News Americas, LONDON, UK, Fri. Aug. 8, 2025: George Lee, a Jamaican-born British resident exiled for nearly three decades due to Home Office failings, has returned to the UK – closing one of the longest and most harrowing chapters of the Windrush scandal but underscoring the systemic flaws that campaigners say still plague the immigration system.

George Lee, a Windrush scandal victim exiled in Poland for 27 years, has finally returned to the UK. His case exposes ongoing Home Office failures and the urgent need for immigration reform.

Lee, 72, according to The Voice UK, touched down at Birmingham Airport last month, where Bishop Dr. Desmond Jaddoo MBE, Director of the Windrush National Organisation, greeted him with the words: “Welcome home.” Lee’s understated but emotional response: “I’m back.”

Lee arrived in Britain in 1961 at age eight, joining his parents as part of the first generation of Caribbean migrants to rebuild postwar Britain. He grew up in London, working, marrying, and raising a family – until a short-term teaching contract in Poland in 1997 turned into a 27-year exile when the British Embassy in Warsaw refused him re-entry.

Despite nearly four decades of lawful residence, Lee was told he had “no entitlement” to return – a decision that left him stateless, living in deep poverty, and effectively erased from the country he called home. “In Poland, I was a citizen of nowhere,” Lee said. “I want my rights back. I want my dignity back.”

His return comes six years after the Windrush scandal erupted in 2018, revealing how hundreds of Caribbean-born residents were wrongly detained, denied rights, or deported. While the UK government pledged reforms and compensation, critics say Lee’s case shows how policy gaps – and outsourcing consular services to local staff – still fail the most vulnerable.

“This is not just a historic injustice,” Bishop Jaddoo said. “It’s a live one. George’s case is proof that the Home Office and Foreign Office are still passing responsibility between them, leaving victims stranded overseas.”

Lee’s story adds a “new dimension” to the Windrush scandal, Jaddoo said, spotlighting those exiled to third countries—not deported to their birth nations. Lee, for example, spent years facing eviction, living without electricity, and working odd jobs for survival in Poland.

Although the Nationality and Borders Act of 2022 gave the Home Secretary powers to waive residency requirements for people excluded “through no fault of their own,” Lee was instead told to secure a Jamaican passport and apply for a visa—despite his eligibility for the Windrush Scheme.

The Home Office, in a statement to The Voice UK, declined to discuss individual cases but reiterated its commitment to “ensuring victims of the Windrush scandal are heard” and to “speeding up justice” through the appointment of the first Windrush Commissioner, Reverend Clive Foster.

Campaigners argue that Lee’s return must be more than symbolic. “We can’t just bring people home quietly and hope the scandal is forgotten,” Jaddoo said. “There must be systemic change.”

For Lee, stepping back onto British soil was both a personal and political act. “I have a right to be here,” he said. “I was eight when I came to Britain. I helped build this country. I’m not asking for a favor – I’m asking for my life back.”