JAMAICA | Haiti, Jamaica and the demand for migration accountability
An Illustration of the continued deportation of Caribbean Nationals by the Trump Regime's ICE Storm Troopers
MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica, October 17, 2026 - OP-ED By O Dave Allen| I support Kay Osborne’s demand that the Government publish the memorandum of understanding governing Jamaica’s acceptance of third-country nationals from the United States. Jamaicans have a right to know what has been agreed in our name. That demand also raises a question we must confront: why are we prepared to accommodate Washington’s migration priorities while showing such resistance to Haitian neighbours seeking safety?
Jamaica’s relationship with the United States matters. Cooperation does not, however, transfer our Government’s accountability from Kingston to Washington. If confidentiality is being invoked, ministers must identify its basis, explain what genuinely requires protection and release everything else. Parliamentary scrutiny cannot be replaced by assurances that the public should simply trust those who signed.
The American litigation makes clarity more urgent. On September 18, 2026, the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit largely upheld a ruling against a policy permitting third-country removals without effective notice and a meaningful opportunity to raise fears of persecution or torture. That is a serious challenge to the removal procedures. It does not, by itself, establish that every third-country arrangement is unlawful or that Jamaica’s MOU has automatically ceased to operate.
The Jamaican Government describes its arrangement as temporary transit through an assisted voluntary return programme. That distinction must be demonstrated through the agreement and its implementation. How is consent established? What happens when someone seeks asylum here, cannot safely return home or remains longer than expected? Who pays, who provides legal assistance and who carries responsibility if protection fails?
Kay Osborne’s central demand stands independently of the eventual outcome in the American courts. Publish the MOU and the operating procedures. Explain screening, accommodation, costs, safeguards and termination provisions. An arrangement affecting people’s liberty and Jamaica’s responsibilities deserves public scrutiny whichever party holds office.
Our treatment of Haitians must face the same scrutiny. UNHCR’s account of Jamaica records detention, illegal-entry charges and deportation concerns among arrivals from Haiti. People fleeing persecution or threats of violence deserve a genuine opportunity to seek protection. Not everyone will qualify for asylum, but nationality must not substitute for an individual assessment.
I support the free movement of Caribbean people as a regional objective, together with practical arrangements that make movement safe and lawful. If Jamaica can administer work permits for people recruited from outside the region, it can examine a fair employment pathway for eligible Haitians. Where employers demonstrate shortages of tradespeople and labourers, skills assessment, training and lawful recruitment should be available without racial prejudice.
Asian workers are entitled to the same dignity and protection as anyone else. Their presence is not the problem. The issue is whether our policies offer comparable opportunities on fair terms and whether poor, predominantly Black Caribbean migrants are treated as inherently less welcome. That question deserves evidence and an honest answer.
Our demographic circumstances strengthen the case for serious planning. The Planning Institute of Jamaica identified a fertility rate of 1.9 children per woman in its 2025 World Population Day material, below the replacement benchmark of 2.1. It also highlighted emigration and population ageing. These trends create challenges for the workforce, care for older people and the continuity of community life.
The prospect sometimes called a demographic winter requires a broad response: support for families, better opportunities for young Jamaicans, skills development and measures to retain people. Managed migration can contribute. Haitians should neither be reduced to replacement workers nor expected to solve problems our own development policies have failed to address.
For me, embracing Haiti is also a political and cultural choice. Our shared African ancestry, cultural and racial affinity, and histories of resistance to slavery give Caribbean solidarity substance. Haiti’s revolutionary achievement belongs within our understanding of freedom. Our neighbours should not become strangers when their need is greatest.
I am concerned about the erosion of our African identity and any concerted effort to erase it. Establishing deliberate coordination requires evidence; unequal outcomes alone do not prove a hidden plan. But we need no conspiracy claim to challenge policies and public attitudes that devalue African heritage or treat Haitian lives as less deserving. Their effects warrant scrutiny even when officials deny discriminatory intent.
Affirming our African heritage is compatible with respecting Jamaica’s other communities. Cultural continuity depends on education, historical knowledge, institutions and participation. Welcoming Haitians should involve mutual respect, language support and room for their distinct identity within a shared society.
A workable approach would combine fair asylum assessments with lawful residence and employment options for those eligible. It would protect wages, prevent exploitation and support the communities receiving newcomers. Protection from persecution must never depend on a person’s usefulness to an employer.
Nor should our criticism of US policy turn the people affected into objects of contempt. My objection is to governments treating human beings as unwanted burdens and negotiating their movement without adequate accountability. Everyone arriving through these arrangements deserves humane treatment.
Publish the agreement and explain its legal position. Give Parliament the opportunity to scrutinise it. Extend fair consideration to our Haitian neighbours. Jamaica should be able to cooperate with the United States while acting with the independence, regional solidarity and respect for human dignity that our history demands.
O. Dave Allen |
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Source notes for editorial verification
US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, D.V.D. v. Department of Homeland Security, September 18, 2026
https://www.ca1.uscourts.gov/sites/ca1/files/opnfiles/26-1212P-01A.pdf
Jamaica Information Service, Jamaica US Finalise Procedures for Third Country Nationals Agreement, September 17, 2026
https://jis.gov.jm/jamaica-us-finalise-procedures-for-third-country-nationals-agreement/
Planning Institute of Jamaica, World Population Day 2025
https://www.pioj.gov.jm/event/2025worldpopulationday/
UNHCR Rights Mapping and Analysis Platform, Jamaica
