.jpg)
Foreign Affairs Minister Kamina Johnson Smith
.png)
Nakinskie Robinson reports
The Minister of Foreign Affairs is distancing itself from reports out of the United States that the government refused to accept the return of Jamaican nationals, resulting in their deportation to the southern African kingdom of Eswatini.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Kamina Johnson Smith, in a post to X, insisted that the country has not refused the return or transfer of any of its citizens.
The clarification comes after US Homeland Security Department Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin revealed in a post on X that five criminal illegal aliens were deported to Eswatini.
She said that the deportees were from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Cuba and Yemen, and had been convicted of crimes ranging from child rape to murder, adding that the flight included individuals so "uniquely barbaric" that their home countries refused their repatriation.
But Senator Johnson Smith disclosed that the ministry has initiated inquiries with the US authorities to ascertain the veracity of the reported inclusion of a Jamaican in the transfer.
She maintained that the government has not refused the return of any Jamaican, and accordingly, if the reports are confirmed, engagements will continue with the US on the arrangements necessary to facilitate the individual's return to Jamaica.
In the series of posts on Wednesday, Mrs. McLaughlin detailed that the Jamaican was convicted of murder and sentenced to 25 years confinement, robbery with a six-year sentence, and possession of a weapon carrying a six-month confinement.
Mrs. McLaughlin described the men as "depraved monsters" who had been terrorising American communities.
The continued deportation exercise forms part of President Donald Trump's country-wide dragnet on illegal migrants in the US.
Since the start of July, eight migrants from several countries were sent to South Sudan after the US Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to resume deporting migrants to third countries.
Eswatini is landlocked by neighbours South Africa and Mozambique.
comments powered by Disqus
All feeds
