Kingston and Washington are expected to begin talks on an agreement first pitched by a senior Jamaican government official that could see the island accepting up to 10,000 non-Jamaicans being deported from the United States.

A document from the United States Embassy in Kingston, seen by The Gleaner, outlines the operational framework for the proposed Third-Country Nationals (TCN) agreement, which has triggered controversy in several countries that have entered into similar arrangements with Washington.

The TCN deals came under local scrutiny last year when a Jamaica man, Orville Etoria, was deported from the United States to the African country of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) in July with no ties to that nation. Following intense international scrutiny and diplomatic pushback, the Eswatini government released and repatriated him to Jamaica in late September 2025 and he was reunited with his family.