Jamaica accepts first flight of third-country deportations from US

Key points

• Jamaica received 22 deportees from the US on Tuesday at Kingston's Norman Manley International Airport.
• Jamaica signed a June memorandum to act as a transit point, not to accept deportees with criminal records.
• At least 35 countries have third-country deportation agreements with the US, with $410m earmarked.

Jamaica has received its first group of third-country deportees from the United States, part of an expanding set of international agreements under President Donald Trump. On Tuesday, 22 deportees arrived at Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, Jamaica. Media reports said they were then put on a bus and taken to an undisclosed location.

Third-country deportations often involve non-citizens with no ties to the destination country and have drawn widespread condemnation from human rights groups and advocates who question their legality. Jamaica is among a growing number of countries accepting such deportations as part of Trump's effort to carry out the largest mass deportation campaign in US history.

Jamaica's transit arrangement

Jamaica signed a bilateral memorandum of understanding in June to receive third-country deportations. Under the plan, Jamaica will transfer any deportees to their home countries or other destinations after arrival. The government has also pledged not to accept any deportees with criminal records.

In a joint statement, Jamaica's Ministry of National Security and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade said the arrangement is a transit measure to help return third-country nationals to their country of origin or other receiving countries. The statement added that care for the deportees will be supported by the International Organization for Migration and that the arrangement will not be funded by the Jamaican government.

The point is that the administration can threaten people that they will literally be dropped in the middle of nowhere. The point is to scare people.

— an unnamed official cited in a February report by Democrats on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Opposition and legal challenges

Opposition leaders in Jamaica spoke out against the deportation, calling the deal a threat to the island's security and questioning why it was not debated publicly. Fitz Jackson, the opposition spokesperson on national security, said, "Jamaicans are being asked to trust a secret document that touches their security, their communities and their public services." Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson Smith responded that questions about the deal have all been answered and indicated the US has not agreed to make it public. She wrote on social media that some countries have agreed to receive criminals, but Jamaica has not, and that while some agreements have been made public, "our partner has not agreed for this one to be."

Legal challenges against third-country deportations are ongoing in the US, where advocates argue deportees are removed without due process of law. Critics say the practice sometimes sends immigrants to countries where they may face danger, and some opponents claim it is used to circumvent court protection orders. At least 35 countries have entered into third-country deportation agreements with the US, according to Third Country Deportation Watch. The Washington Post reported last month that the Trump administration has earmarked roughly $410m to support such efforts.