Inter-ministerial committee set up to devise plan to deal with US mass deportations

By Clinton McGregor    

 

The government has established an inter-ministerial committee of Cabinet to examine the implications for Jamaica of the Trump administration's deportation exercise.

 

Speaking at Wednesday's post Cabinet press briefing, Information Minister Dr. Dana Morris Dixon said the committee will formulate a plan to address the issue. 

 

The committee consists of the Ministries of Local Government, Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Labour and Social Security, as well as the Ministry of Education. 

 

"I have one minister right beside me, the Minister of Local Government, obviously the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade would be very intimately a part of this, the Minister of Labour and Social Security would be a part of it, Ministry of Education would also likewise, especially on the skills element of it, also be a part of that committee that would be empowered to look at how we treat with all of the elements. 

 

"As government we believe that there are some opportunities; some individuals are coming back with good skills that we would want to integrate. Some we may need to do additional skills training for them. We may need to be looking at housing support or other support, and so we have a committee that has been empowered by Cabinet to meet and to work through these details," she noted. 

 

Deportation orders have been prepared for more than 5,000 Jamaican nationals under the policy.

 

 

In the meantime, Dr. Morris Dixon has declared that Jamaica will have to adjust as she weighed in on the potential social and economic fallout in the island as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) pulls out of the country amid US President Donald Trump's new policies. 

 

She admitted that several programmes within the Ministry of Education - which she also leads - will be affected, but maintained that the Jamaican government must accept the decisions of the US.

 

"We have to recognise the sovereignty and the sovereign right of every country to make their decisions that suit them and we respect the sovereign right of any other country that we interact with. The Prime Minister has consistently spoken about economic resilience and us not being dependent on anyone, and that is important because as an independent country we need to be able to stand on our own two feet. 

 

"It's important that Jamaicans remember that there's nobody coming to our rescue. We have to be independent and our Prime Minister has been saying this. And if you look at our economic policies it has all been linked to that," she insisted. 

 

Dr. Morris Dixon said Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness is expected to deliver a formal statement on the issue soon.