Jamaica is planning to allow the United States to transfer deported migrants through its territory before they are repatriated or sent on to third countries, the Caribbean nation said Wednesday. It was the latest in a string of deals the Trump administration has pursued to expel migrants to countries to which they do not have any connection.
Under the agreement, Jamaica would receive up to 25 migrants every two weeks, Horace Chang, the security minister and deputy prime minister, said in a news conference in Kingston, the capital. No more than 25 migrants would remain in the country at a time, he added.
Jamaica would not accept “individuals with criminal antecedents,” Mr. Chang said, adding that the U.S. government would cover the costs of the arrangement.
He said the United States and Jamaica had signed the agreement, but “operational procedures” still needed to be worked out before Jamaica began accepting migrants. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the arrangement.
The deal was part of the Trump administration’s strategy of fusing immigration policy and foreign affairs, as it tries to find countries willing to take migrants detained in the United States. A number of countries across the world have cut deals with the United States to receive deported migrants, sometimes in exchange for money or potential favorable policy changes.
Asked by reporters what Jamaica would receive in return, Mr. Chang did not directly answer, saying the deal was an opportunity to uphold a “healthy bilateral relationship.”
“The idea of what we get out of it is not a relevant question,” he said, calling the United States a “friend.”
In other countries across the region, such as El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama, the U.S. deportation of migrants from other countries has come under heavy scrutiny and legal challenges.
Rights groups have called practice inhumane and criticized the conditions in which those migrants are sometimes detained. The United States has sent migrants to countries where they could face persecution, which rights groups say violates the principles of international refugee law.
Mr. Chang said the migrants sent to Jamaica would not be detained, and the International Organization for Migration, a United Nations agency, would handle their accommodations. The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Chang said the governments were still negotiating details about who the United States might send, and that Jamaica would have a preference for English speakers. But he indicated there was “no guarantee either way.”
