US diplomatic note puts Audrey Marks at centre of deportee proposal; Jamaian govt denies claim
Key Points(5)
- National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang told Parliament on Wednesday that the controversial deal to temporarily accommodate non-Jamaican deportees from the United States originated from a request by Washington.
- Chang's account of the deal's origins, however, sits in tension with revelations in a diplomatic note sent to Jamaica by the United States Embassy in Kingston, and reported on in The Gleaner on Thursday.
- Chang, who is also deputy prime minister of Jamaica, was responding to a question from Opposition lawmaker Dr Dayton Campbell, Member of Parliament for Westmoreland Eastern, during a sitting of the House of Representatives.
- "Did a member of the government approach the United States of America to enter into this agreement?
- Was it initiated by a member of the government?" Campbell asked.
A diplomatic note from the United States Embassy in Kingston has raised questions over who initiated a proposed third-country national (TCN) arrangement, stating that a Jamaican Cabinet minister put forward a plan for Jamaica to receive up to 10,000 deportees from the United States.
The note, sent to the Jamaican Government and shared with The Gleaner, said former US ambassador and Minister without Portfolio Audrey Marks made the proposal during a meeting with a US Department of Homeland Security official at the Americas Counter Cartel Conference at US Southern Command in Miami, Florida, on March 5, 2026.
It stated that Marks made the proposal “for a Third-Country National arrangement that would have Jamaica receive up to 10,000 third-country nationals from the United States.”
Since The Gleaner first reported the existence of the proposed arrangement on Tuesday, the Government has maintained that no agreement exists for 10,000 third-country nationals to transit through Jamaica’s ports.
National Security Minister Dr. Horace Chang also has firmly rejected the suggestion that Jamaica initiated the arrangement, insisting instead that it originated with the United States.
Responding in Parliament on Wednesday to a question from Opposition MP Dr. Dayton Campbell, Chang said: “The issue of the TCN was a request from the United States government.”
Campbell had asked whether a government member approached the US to enter into the arrangement or whether it was initiated externally.
Chang said the proposal formed part of longstanding bilateral cooperation.
“We have a long a long-standing relationship …since 1962, and they are primary partners in area of security, economic activities and many areas… And, there are many agreements and MOUs that have gone on with them as partners and they're not discussing a quid pro quo basis,” he said.
“In this case, the United States requested and our professionals, after the government decided, negotiated and agreed an understanding which we are comfortable with.”
Ahead of his parliamentary statement, Chang also told a post-Cabinet news conference that Jamaica did not originate the idea.
“No, TCN is an American request. They have done so with several allies across the region and throughout the world. So, it's their challenge that they're trying to resolve in a humane way,” he said.
“Why would we suggest? We don't have a problem,” he added.
The diplomatic note, however, as reported by The Gleaner, attributes the initial proposal to Marks during the March meeting in Miami, placing her at the centre of the question over how the arrangement first came about.
Marks demitted office as US ambassador in March 2025 and now has responsibility for efficiency, innovation and digital transformation in the Office of the Prime Minister.
Under the arrangement outlined by government officials, the deportees would be held in Jamaica on a transit basis before being returned to their home countries. Chang said no more than 25 individuals would arrive every two weeks, and that Jamaica would not accept persons with criminal convictions.
“They don’t intend to stay in Jamaica so the United States pays their airfare and they go back home. Their return rate so far has been about 94 per cent,” Chang said.
He added that if all 25 individuals in a cohort chose to remain in Jamaica, “we stop the programme immediately.”
On the duration of the arrangement, Chang said there is no fixed end date.
“It doesn't have an end point. It doesn't seem to even have the starting point either. It's an understanding which, while there is a need, we'll work with. If we find it impossible to pursue it, we discontinue it,” he said.
