PNP Women’s Movement seeks clarity on Jamaica–US deportation deal

The PNP Women’s Movement is demanding that the Government explain why Jamaica would participate in a deportation arrangement with the United States whose top diplomat has described intended deportees as “perverts, paedophiles and child rapists.”

National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang has said the Jamaican deal involving third country nationals (TCNs) excludes persons with convictions and other antecedents. 

The movement, an affiliate of the opposition party, said its alarm was sharpened by remarks made by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in an April 30 2025 interview, in which he characterised the individuals the US was seeking to remove as "some of the most despicable human beings."

Rubio said: "I say this unapologetically: We are actively searching for other countries to take people from third countries. So we are active, not just El Salvador," Rubio said Wednesday during a Cabinet meeting at the White House. "We are working with other countries to say, ‘We want to send you some of the most despicable human beings to your countries.’"

In its statement the PNP group said the Government should explain why Jamaica is participating in the third country deals. 

"If that is how the United States views the individuals it is seeking to remove from its territory, then the Government must explain why Jamaica would seek to become a destination under such an arrangement," the movement said on Monday. 

As "women, mothers, caregivers and community leaders," the group said it was "particularly concerned about the implications for the safety and wellbeing of women and children," and posed nine questions to the Government in the issue. 

The movement's intervention came as trade union leaders joined groups expressing concerns about the third-country national’s arrangement

Vincent Morrison, president of the Union of Clerical Administrative and Supervisory Employees, called on the Government to withdraw the arrangement outright, saying conflicting statements from ministers had exposed something fundamentally amiss.

"When you hear the different statements coming out from the different government officials, it's quite apparent that something is wrong somewhere," Morrison told The Gleaner. "It's a bad agreement and you can't foist a bad agreement on the people," he said, warning that the Government faced serious political exposure if it allowed the arrangement to proceed.

Morrison said: "The Jamaican people will not allow that sort of thing to happen, and I think the Government runs a serious political risk if they allow this to happen at this time," Morrison said.

Techa Clarke-Griffiths, president of the Jamaica Civil Service Association, was equally pointed. Speaking at an awards ceremony for long-serving civil servants in Manchester last Thursday, she warned that Jamaica was ill-equipped to absorb the consequences of America's immigration difficulties.

"We have enough problems of our own here," Clarke-Griffiths said, adding: "We may retire with some persons that we don't want to retire with that will be overnighting in Jamaica in the near future. We don't want it. We don't want it."

Following a Gleaner report, Chang, who is also the deputy prime minister, last week confirmed that the agreement had been signed, disclosing that the US would, on a fortnightly basis, deport 25 TCNs to Jamaica. 

He said the individuals who would transit through the country or may seek asylum. Where the number of TCNs exceeds 10 within a 30-day window, the US is expected to pause deportations.

A diplomatic note from the US Embassy in Kingston identified Cabinet Minister Audrey Marks as the official who proposed the deal, a disclosure which Information Minister Dr Dana Morris Dixon said was mischaracterised in the diplomatic note. She said Marks had proposed a skilled-worker arrangement, not the TCN mechanism that has since ignited public controversy.

Morrison dismissed that distinction, arguing that skilled workers would have little incentive to relocate to Jamaica given prevailing wage conditions.

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