Chang denies Marx started TCN talks as Golding calls for privileges probe

A row over who first approached the United States about Jamaica's third-country nationals (TCN) arrangement widened in Parliament this week, as National Security Minister Dr Chang rejected claims that former ambassador and ex-Cabinet minister Audrey Marx initiated the process.

Dr Chang told the House of Representatives on Wednesday that the United States government started the arrangement. That account conflicts with reports linking Ms Marx to early contact. He said he could not confirm her involvement, noting that other parties had also been in discussions with the government. He added that technical staff from two ministries later worked on operational limits, including figures of 10 and 25, and that he only became aware of a related document when the matter entered his portfolio. He described aspects of the proposal as impractical and unpopular.

Opposition Leader Mark Golding said the competing versions could not both be true and pressed for a parliamentary investigation. "In parliament yesterday, Dr Chang was asked the question how did this arrangement come into existence and he said that it was initiated by the US government. Now the two positions can't both be true and I think there is a basis for this matter to be referred to the privileges committee of parliament so that the question of whether the minister of national security lied to parliament yesterday can be looked into and investigated and dealt with appropriately. And I'm calling for that to be done because we cannot have a situation where ministers of government in parliament on their feet answering questions about matters of state are not being scrupulously truthful."

Education Minister Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon also said Washington initiated the talks. She said negotiations are not yet finalised and that a draft memorandum of understanding caps intake at 25 at a time. "We've not finalized negotiations. So there's an MOU that has very squarely in it that it is 25 at a time. if if at any point more than 10 are applying for asylum. And in Jamaica, we respect international law and we have a process for those who may want to seek asylum, but we have written in our agreement that if we ever get to 10 that the program ends. Nobody else can be sent to Jamaica. And it also has in terms of who covers the costs. It also has that the International Organization for Migration will be the one that will be monitoring and making sure everything is okay and that we are abiding by international law for the time that these individuals are transiting through Jamaica. Questions such as housing, again, we need to finalize those details. Um, and so there are a few more operational things to finalize. We will release the MOU, but I say to Jamaica, there are still some areas that we're ironing out and as soon as those are known, we'll come back and tell you."

Police across several parishes were meanwhile investigating separate violent incidents and major crimes. In Mandeville, Manchester, officers responded around 8:17 a.m. Friday after passers-by found a decomposing male body in bushes off Win Road near the Mandeville infant school. The man was discovered face down under a grill, wearing a red sweater and black shorts.

In Ewarton, St Catherine, Dennis Lamar Mullins, 23, of Boy Road, died Wednesday night after an alleged dispute over television volume during a World Cup match reportedly escalated into a stabbing. Police said Mullins, who was in bed, asked that the volume be turned down and his 25-year-old uncle refused. Mullins was taken to Linstead Hospital and pronounced dead. The uncle is in custody.

Four men were detained and a homemade gun seized during a Thursday afternoon raid near Brooks River Road in Stony Hill, St Andrew. Police are also seeking Fabian Dobson, alias Tweety Bird, wanted for the murder of Jav Liscom and the shooting of Liscom's father along Boden Hill Road on February 23, 2025.

Rodney Thompson, 27, of Gettysburg, St Mary, was charged Thursday over a Saturday crash in Ocho Rios that killed Claudia Thorp, 62, of Petersfield. CCTV footage captured the Toyota Mark II climbing a sidewalk on Main Street and striking Thorp. Three women — Jod K Harrison, Tenise Wade and Nikisha Evans — were charged over an alleged $1.7 million refund fraud at a Concern Spring Road, St Andrew, food store between October 2025 and April 2026. In northern St Elizabeth, residents in Abodine found a torso in bushes Thursday night; Councillor Audi Meyers said the discovery had left the community deeply troubled.