{"id":881654,"date":"2026-10-14T05:36:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T05:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/881654\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T05:36:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T05:36:19","slug":"jamaica-begins-receiving-third-country-deportees-under-controversial-u-s-agreement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/881654\/","title":{"rendered":"Jamaica begins receiving third-country deportees under controversial U.S. agreement"},"content":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, Jamaica \u2014 The first flight transporting third-country nationals from the United States arrived in Jamaica<\/a> on Tuesday, marking the commencement of a highly scrutinized bilateral agreement that utilizes the Caribbean nation as a temporary transit hub for migrants.<\/p>\n

These agreements, whose legality will be debated by the Supreme Court, have become increasingly common under the Trump administration, with migrants being sent to Liberia, Eswatini<\/a>, Paraguay and beyond.<\/p>\n

The group of 22 migrants \u2014 all adults including seven women \u2014 were quickly processed on arrival at Kingston\u2019s Norman Manley International Airport mid-afternoon Tuesday and whisked away by bus with police escort to an undisclosed location.<\/p>\n

The media was not given access. Jamaican authorities say they are following procedures intended to ensure the arrangement\u2019s implementation in a \u201csafe, orderly and lawful manner.\u201d<\/p>\n

00:31<\/p>\n

SCOTUS allows ‘third country’ deportations<\/p>\n

00:0000:00<\/p>\n

The flight\u2019s arrival marks the operational beginning of a bilateral memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed in June this year. Under the arrangement, non-Jamaican migrants will be flown to the Caribbean nation before being transferred to their home countries or other destinations.<\/p>\n

While official passenger manifests and exact arrival times were closely guarded, local sources indicated the inaugural cohort consisted largely of South American nationals. The Jamaican government has previously confirmed that the program will strictly cap arrivals, accepting \u201ca maximum of 25 persons per fortnight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both the Ministry of National Security and Peace and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade again sought to reassure the public about the deal\u2019s parameters on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government reiterates that this is a transit arrangement intended to facilitate the return of Third Country Nationals to their country of origin or other receiving countries, with the support of the IOM (International Organization for Migration),\u201d the joint statement read.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe arrangement will not be funded by the Government of Jamaica,\u201d the release stated, adding that \u201cno third-country national with criminal antecedents will be permitted to transit through Jamaica.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ministries emphasized their commitment to transparency and international standards.<\/p>\n

The framework of the agreement relies heavily on the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which will manage housing and logistics through its Assisted Voluntary Return program.<\/p>\n

Public anxiety over these logistics has simmered for months. In June, the Ministry of National Security publicly dismissed \u201cfalse and misleading\u201d claims that migrants would be housed in the rural parish of St. Mary, clarifying that any housing arrangements were strictly the IOM\u2019s responsibility.<\/p>\n

Despite these assurances, the rollout has sparked intense political friction in Kingston. The agreement has been sharply criticized by local politicians and transparency advocates who argue that the Jamaican Parliament was entirely bypassed during negotiations and that undisclosed details remain hidden.<\/p>\n

\u201cJamaicans are being asked to trust a secret document that touches their security, their communities and their public services,\u201d argued Fitz Jackson, the opposition spokesperson on national security. Jackson previously said that failing to table the executed MOU in Parliament is a \u201cblatant contempt to the people of Jamaica.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mark Golding, Jamaica\u2019s Opposition Leader, has repeatedly challenged the administration to explain what tangible benefits the country extracts from the arrangement.<\/p>\n

Responding to sustained criticisms, Foreign Affairs Minister Kamina Johnson Smith said Tuesday on X: \u201cWe have made every effort to negotiate this transit agreement with protection of Jamaica and the Jamaican people in mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added there is nothing \u201cprejudicial\u201d in the agreement, but the U.S. has not agreed to make it public.<\/p>\n

The unease extends beyond the political sphere. Bishop Alvin Bailey, leader of a local evangelical alliance, has expressed deep skepticism, asking why the U.S. could not deport the individuals directly to their home countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just don\u2019t trust what the government is saying,\u201d Bailey said previously.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KINGSTON, Jamaica \u2014 The first flight transporting third-country nationals from the United States arrived in Jamaica on Tuesday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":881655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-881654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=881654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/881655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=881654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=881654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}