Audrey Marks denies she proposed US deportation deal

Cabinet Minister Audrey Marks has denied that she proposed the controversial deal under which Jamaica would receive up to 10,000 third-country nationals (TCNs) from the United States.

Marks said media reports have conflated the TCN Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a separate proposal she developed in March last year as Jamaica's ambassador to Washington to recruit skilled foreign workers.

Speaking on Wednesday at the National Corporate Consultation on Workforce Alignment and Jamaica’s Economic Competitiveness at the Institute for Workforce Education and Development (IWED), Marks also suggested that the furore was intended to damage her reputation.

“To make it clear, the TCN requests originated in the United States... I noticed that there were all kinds of suggestions that I originated a TCN. Now, I'm good at some things, but I'm not that good that I could dictate US policy,” she said.

She said the US has already entered into TCN deportation agreements with 27 countries and has ongoing negotiations with at least 54 others.

Marks said Jamaica was approached on January 2, 2026, to also consider facilitating third-country nationals being removed from the United States.

A diplomatic note from the United States (US) Embassy in Kingston, shared with The Gleaner in June, stated that Marks, former ambassador to the US and Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for Efficiency, Innovation and Digital Transformation, made the proposal “for a Third-Country National arrangement that would have Jamaica receive up to 10,000 third-country nationals from the United States”.

The note said she made the proposal to a US official attached to the US Department of Homeland Security during the Americas Counter Cartel Conference at the US Southern Command in Miami, Florida, on March 5, 2026.

But, according to Marks, it is being conflated with a proposal she made to recruit skilled workers to Jamaica while serving as Jamaica's ambassador to the United States in March 2025.

Anticipating that the “America First” policy of the Trump administration would lead to the mass deportation of undocumented migrants, she said she began exploring ways to reduce the potential impact on Jamaica.

She said the “March 2025 Embassy of Jamaica Broad Cooperation Proposal” was conceptualised to support Jamaica's economic development through bilateral cooperation in five key areas.

The proposal included the expansion of the H-2A and H-2B visa programmes, which Marks said could allow up to 200,000 Jamaicans to participate in structured overseas employment.

The second consideration in the cooperation document was a structured migration and economic development programme to help Jamaica address critical skills gaps.

She said this would be done through consent, proper screening and lawful processing, and would allow workers to migrate to Jamaica as skilled workers.

“With an estimated 8.5 million undocumented skilled workers who were likely not to receive residency under the new migrant policies, there was an opportunity for Jamaica to attract persons with skills in technology, infrastructure, services, and the emerging digital and AI economy,” she said.

“The idea was to create a pathway for skilled workers to come to Jamaica, similar in principle to the US H-1 visa, where specialised skills in the United States used to be very welcomed,” Marks stated.

She argued that it was an important proposal to “counter the unstructured migration programme that is currently happening in Jamaica”.

She further stated that the proposal also included the development of a near-shared talent residence hub, a nearshore logistics hub, and enhanced cooperation on security, including drugs, guns, trafficking networks and transnational crime between the two nations.

“So, although the proposal was developed and positively reviewed by both governments in early 2025, as you heard, I returned home in April, had to set up a new ministry, and then I got caught in the election cycle, and then it was Hurricane Melissa. So, these developments slowed the follow-up on the proposal. However, while Jamaica was managing its national priorities, and I was busy, the United States continued to move forward with its America First agenda,” she said.

But, she said, “on the margins”, she spoke to some American officials and reminded them that this is a better long-term programme for partner countries like Jamaica.

“When we are discussing the fight against cartels and against drugs and guns, we have to, at the same time, look at economic opportunities for our people. And that was where I again spoke of at least 10,000 skilled workers who could come to Jamaica,” she said.

“The discussion was not at any point about importing 10,000 or accepting 10,000 deportees. It was about the wider USA-Jamaica migration and economic partnership in the original embassy concept,” she stated.

- Sashana Small

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