DEPORTING non-British offenders who repeatedly commit petty crimes is a fair policy, foreign representatives have said.

Locally-based figureheads of the Portuguese, Polish, German and French communities all backed the move, announced yesterday by head of law enforcement Patrick Rice. They said everybody should be respectful of where they live and that included abiding by the law.

Previously, only non-British citizens convicted of serious offences in the Bailiwick risked being sent from the island. But that is now being broadened to include those who persistently commit lower-level crimes such as shoplifting, drunk and disorderly and traffic offences.

Guernsey Portuguese Association chairman Joe Gomes, pictured, felt it was reasonable.

‘I think it is fair for people to be deported if they have committed serious crimes and if they persistently continue to commit minor crimes,’ he said.