Deportation danger - Opposition tells US to back down as ­Guatemala fingers flights for COVID spike

The Holness administration has been urged to resist the planned re-entry of Jamaican deportees from the United States even as the government of Guatemala reports that 75 per cent of its returnees on a recent American flight tested positive for the new coronavirus.

The People’s National Party (PNP) last night called for the US to put on hold deportation ­proceedings until the Jamaican borders reopened.

The Government has found itself on a policy knife edge as comparisons have been drawn with the treatment of Jamaicans aboard the Marella Discovery 2 ship who wanted to land amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

Yesterday, National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang said there were multiple delays but admitted that the US insisted on the deportations.

VISA THREATS

US President Donald Trump has threatened countries with visa sanctions if they refuse deportations although many are buckling under the pressure of managing the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The question of the inmates is a challenging one, and the US government is insisting and is, in fact, sending home citizens, but we have had productive discussions both with the local embassy and Homeland Security and the State Department through the embassy in Washington and had the delays.

“But we are preparing – as is necessary or when necessary – in the conditions laid down by the Ministry of Health,” Chang said.

But the PNP argued that the Government should “make a compelling case” that protects the country.

“Our health system is already in danger of being stretched beyond its capacity, and our quarantine arrangements are not sufficiently robust and efficient,” Julian Robinson, the PNP general secretary, said in a statement last night.

Guatemalan officials said yesterday that they have had an increase in COVID-19 cases because of the deportations from the US. And they are demanding that the US send certificates that the deportees are in good health.

So far, the US has recorded 613,886 cases of the coronavirus and 26,047 deaths.

The US Embassy in Kingston has so far been silent on the push by the Trump administration, but Prime Minister Andrew Holness, noting that Jamaica had a “very good relationship with the United States”, said the Government was bound by agreements to accept the deportees.

He said the deportation rescheduled for approximately two weeks from today was more favourable to the country’s state of readiness to battle COVID-19.

“We are making preparations to have a controlled re-entry of Jamaicans. We have spent the last two weeks refining those protocols,” Holness said.

Turning to the issue of the 43 Jamaicans stuck on the Marella Discovery 2 cruise ship, Holness described the situation as unfortunate, disclosing that he had, in fact, given an order for the Jamaicans to be landed but was told the ship had left Jamaican shores.