‘They are not criminals’

FOREIGN Affairs Minister Senator Kamina Johnson Smith has reiterated that individuals sent to Jamaica under the third-country national (TCN) agreement with the United States (US) have zero criminal antecedents other than breaching that country’s immigration laws.

Speaking during Wednesday’s Post Cabinet Press briefing at Jamaica House in St Andrew, Johnson Smith said that detail was worth repeating given apparent confusion in some quarters about the individuals transiting the country under the arrangement.

“There are countries which have agreed to receive criminals. They exist; when the United States speaks about sending criminals under TCN agreements they send them to those countries. Jamaica is not one of them. Our country has negotiated arrangements whereby persons with criminal antecedents will not be sent to Jamaica,” the foreign affairs minister stressed.