Senator Morgan rebuts PNP criticism of US asylum transit memorandum

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Government Senator Marlon Morgan has challenged Opposition Senator Lambert Brown over who may pass through Jamaica under a third-country national (TCN) pact with the United States (US).

During Friday's Senate sitting, Brown referred to comments by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and cast the arrangement as a US effort to dump "some of the most despicable, pedophiles and dangerous people" in Jamaica.

In a statement on Sunday, Morgan called Brown's characterisation "reckless, irresponsible and grossly misleading." He said Jamaica's stance is unchanged: persons with criminal records will not be taken in under the agreement.

"What Lambert Brown has alleged is false and he knows it. The ministers responsible for information and national security, respectively, have been very clear. Jamaica has expressly indicated that no individual with criminal antecedents will be accepted into the island under the agreement regarding asylum seekers. This has been outlined unequivocally and reiterated on several occasions," Morgan said.

Morgan charged that Brown had set out to mislead the public about the pact's terms.

"In a most egregious, reckless and vulgar display, however, Lambert Brown sought to mislead the country into thinking otherwise. We reject the misleading allegation from Brown and the PNP (People's National Party) and reaffirm that the Government has been diligent in protecting Jamaica's best interest," he continued.

He said Brown's intervention matched what he described as a recurring Opposition habit of pushing untrue narratives for political advantage.

On the memorandum itself, Morgan said it forms part of a wider US arrangement with more than 20 territories across the region to allow a limited number of asylum seekers to transit temporarily to their countries of origin.

He said the setup includes safeguards for Jamaica's national security and public interest, while supporting one of the country's longstanding allies and major trading partners.

"Any suggestion to the contrary from the PNP and their surrogates is false and politically contrived to stir fear among our citizens, on the basis of false and reckless allegations which have no merit and are indeed not grounded in truth," Morgan said.