The public controversy over Jamaica's decision to accept third country nationals being thrown out of the United States will soon dissipate. Which is what the government expects and is banking on.

But the further erosion of public trust that the issue, which the administration's handling of it has caused, will continue to linger. For, despite Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness’ view that the public's and the political opposition's response to the matter "borders on the ridiculous", few Jamaicans accept that the administration acted entirely on its own volition in a supposed act of pragmatic foreign policy.

The greater likelihood is that, like other developing countries in the Caribbean and elsewhere, Jamaica was leaned on by the Trump administration to help in its outsourcing of the management of illegal immigration and asylum/refugee issues.