Jamaica Receives First US Third-Country Deportees Under New Bilateral Deal

The United States delivered its first group of third-country deportees to Jamaica on Tuesday, with 22 people arriving at Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston. The transfer follows a June memorandum of understanding that allows Jamaica to serve as a transit point for non-citizens the US wishes to remove, part of President Donald Trump’s broader deportation push involving at least 35 partner nations. Jamaican officials said the deportees will be forwarded to their countries of origin or other destinations, and that the government will not accept anyone with a criminal record; the International Organization for Migration will provide humanitarian support, and the operation will not be financed by Jamaica.

Opposition spokesperson Fitz Jackson condemned the arrangement as a security threat and demanded public debate, while Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson Smith replied that all questions had been answered and that the US has chosen not to make the agreement public. Human-rights groups have repeatedly denounced third-country deportations for bypassing due-process protections and potentially sending people to unsafe locations. The development underscores the growing controversy over the US’s mass-deportation strategy.