Economist says Florida's remittance crackdown could have negative effect on Jamaica

   

Economist Keenan Falconer says the impact of the crackdown on remittances to curb illegal immigration in the United States could be far-reaching and could also have a negative effect on remittance companies locally.  

 

It comes amid an announcement by Governor of Florida Ron Desantis that anyone sending money overseas will be required to show proof that they are not an undocumented immigrant.

 

Mr. Falconer expressed concern about the ripple effect of such a move on Jamaica where remittances account for around 22 per cent of GDP, 80 per cent of which comes from the United States. 

 

"A third of households in Jamaica rely on remittances whether in part or as a whole, so that amounts to around say 300,000 because there are almost a million households in Jamaica. So the impact, while we can't quantify it precisely right now, you would expect that it would be very significant. I think it's likely to also affect remittance companies because, you know, there are other means of sending remittances through various apps or you can send them informally. You also have persons who will carry cash as remittances when they're coming back to Jamaica via plane," he explained. 

 

He also expressed concern that a black market could develop as people find creative ways to send money from the United States to Jamaica "because persons who can send remitances will probably just do it on behalf of those who can't". 

 

"So this, I would say, is fairly far reaching. We know remittances have always formed a very critical part of Jamaican income. You're talking about on average US$3 billion for the last couple of years, especially in the context now where remittances are declining, they're normalising to pre-COVID levels and that's partially a function of the state of economy, both in Jamaica and the US," he pointed out while speaking Wednesday on Radio Jamaica's Beyond the Headlines. 

 

Meanwhile, Florida-based attorney-at-law Thessica Harris said raids being conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the United States could also negatively affect that country.

 

She said immigrant labour plays a major role in the development of Florida and that is being disrupted through the raids. 

 

"Florida's economy is highly dependent on immigrant labour for construction, for food, for restaurants. Everything you can think of, it's a lot of immigrant labour. So the ICE raids that are going on is going to affect the economy a whole lot," she warned. 

 

"Another big problem we're having is that previous administrations would put limits on ICE and on the places that they could raid. They were not allowed to go into churches or places of worship whether it's a church, a mosque, whatever; they're not allowed to go into hospitals, schools, daycare centres, weddings, funerals. All of that has gone away. They are now given carte blanche to go wherever they want, do whatever they want," added Ms. Harris. 

 

She was also a guest on Beyond the Headlines.