* U.S. deports many people who left Caribbean when young

* Other issues include tax haven policies, drug smuggling

By Robert Edison Sandiford

BRIDGETOWN, May 23 (Reuters) - The United States should review its policy on deporting West Indian criminals back to their home countries, Caribbean nations told U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Saturday.

The issue is a major irritant between Caribbean states and their larger neighbor. Others include the regulation of tax havens and the use by criminal networks of the West Indies as a staging post for illicit drugs bound for U.S. consumers.

Large numbers of people migrate from the West Indies to the United States each year seeking education and employment.

But under a 1996 U.S. law, criminals convicted of offences ranging from murder to shoplifting as well as low-level drug infractions can face deportation from the United States.

"That vexed issue of repatriation of offenders from the United States of America" dominated a meeting between Holder and West Indian attorneys general in the Barbados capital Bridgetown, according to Barbados' Attorney General Freundel Stuart.

Holder stressed the need for a mutual diplomatic relationship, comments aimed at soothing West Indian governments who seek give-and-take in their relations with the United States.

"We recognize that the attorneys general represented here today are all essential partners and we are committed to being good partners in return," Holder said.

"We are all committed to improving security, to strengthening our borders and to combating the plague of gangs and drugs and to reducing recidivism," he said, adding that Washington was giving an additional $30 million for the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative.

The Caribbean Community, a body that groups West Indian nations, says the 1996 act has helped trigger a rise in violent crime within its borders because criminals have been sent back often with little connection to their home countries.

"A number of these people that are being sent back to the Caribbean have never been part of the Caribbean at all," having left young, Stuart said.

Precise figures for the numbers deported were not immediately available. (Editing by Matthew Bigg and Eric Walsh)

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