Marks rejects deport pact claims as PNP figures challenge government accounts

Minister without Portfolio Audrey Marks has again pushed back against claims that Jamaica proposed a deportation arrangement with the United States, maintaining that her presentation at a March conference focused on legal labour mobility rather than removing people to the island.

Marks, who formerly served as Jamaica's ambassador in Washington, told Jamaica Information Service chief executive officer Giovani Dennis that an organised wave of misinformation had followed the talks. She said online voices had framed a third-country nationals discussion as a plan for the United States to send criminals to Jamaica. "That is not so and that's the first thing we must clarify and put an end to," she said.

According to Marks, officials at the embassy drafted a cooperation proposal built around expanding seasonal employment. She put the existing worker cap at about 20,000 and said the government was looking at figures closer to 200,000, arguing that Jamaica already operates established legal channels for bringing workers in.

Opposition Senator Cleveland Tomlinson challenged that explanation on Sunday during a People's National Party divisional conference in Admiral Town, Kingston. He said the overseas meeting was convened around drug cartels and national security, and questioned how it produced a skilled-migration pitch. "I don't know how you go to a conference to deal with national security issues and drug cartel issues and you end up proposing a deal about skilled migration and attracting skilled workers to Jamaica," he said.

At the same gathering, Kingston Mayor Andrew Swaby said the Kingston and St. Andrew Municipal Corporation inherited more than $400 million in outstanding bills from the previous administration led by former mayor Delroy Williams. Swaby, who chairs the corporation, said $164 million remains unpaid, with some general bills dating to 2021 and retention debts going back further. He warned that clearing legacy obligations continues to limit the pace of road and infrastructure repairs.

In sports, Spain knocked Portugal out of the FIFA World Cup with a 1-0 round-of-sixteen win in Dallas on Monday. Mikel Merino came off the bench to score in stoppage time, repeating the outcome of their 2010 meeting at the same stage. Portugal head coach Roberto Martinez confirmed he will leave the post, saying the team needs a new voice after the defeat. Martinez has been in charge since early 2023 and previously led Belgium for six years, including a run to the 2025 Nations League final.