Even as the Government shores up its defences against a possible influx of Haitian refugees from the crisis-riddled country, National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang says Jamaica is willing to accommodate a specific group of people seeking asylum — orphans.

Chang made the disclosure during Thursday’s sitting of the Standing Finance Committee in Parliament while being questioned by Opposition legislator Julian Robinson about the impact the worsening situation in Haiti may have on Jamaica, and the Administration’s preparedness.

“At this point, we have agreed to take a number of people legitimately, namely, the orphans. There is an orphanage that was isolated and challenged and the Mustard Seed Communities is taking them. The logistics of that is being worked out,” Chang said.

He said the World Bank has also requested that Jamaica take in its approximately 53 staff members who have been working in Haiti.

“We are working out the process to get that done. So what we can do through legitimate means we are doing. We still have to maintain control of our borders because we cannot afford the flood of refugees, but we will look at what we do and we’ll look at that and review it literally on a daily basis,” he said.

Chang said the Government is taking an active and leading role in trying to get Caricom, along with partners internationally, and international agencies, to bring some stability to Haiti “and to move us back to, hopefully, a more sustainable governance structure”.

Haiti has been experiencing economic, security and political crises for years. The assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021 has dramatically worsened the situation, with gangs taking over large swathes of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

In an upsurge in violence by gangsters last week, Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who has been at the helm of the country since Moise’s death, has been marooned in Puerto Rico since Tuesday after returning from Nairobi where he signed a reciprocal agreement between Kenya and Haiti to send police from the East African nation to the violence-racked Caribbean country.

He was prevented from landing in the neighbouring Dominican Republic because officials there closed the airspace to flights to and from Haiti after gangsters attempted to take over Toussaint Louverture International Airport. That attack followed last Saturday’s assaults on Haiti’s National Penitentiary in which the thugs released all but 98 of the 3,798 inmates and 1,033 convicts from Croix-des-Bouquets prison.

The gangsters, in a media briefing, threatened civil war unless Henry resigned.

On Thursday Dr Chang, continuing his response to Robinson’s queries, said that at the security level Jamaica primarily has to manage its borders and ensure “we don’t get a flood [of Haitians] coming this way”.

“We seek to protect our borders, which means increasing the level of activity on our east coast, south and north coasts, and also increasing our collaboration with both our security forces’ contacts in Haiti, as well as other international bodies in Haiti involved in security, to monitor the situation there which continues to be of distress and a challenge to the Haitian community, in particular southern Haiti, Port-au-Prince, and surrounding areas,” Chang said.

Robinson asked what would be done about people who may be fleeing Haiti out of fear for their lives, and expressed concern about the approach that has been taken by the Government to those who come to Jamaica as refugees.

“I accept that… there may be some level of human trafficking in it, but our policy thus far has been to return them to their shores and we may be returning people to certain death,” Robinson said.

“Given that deterioration, are we going to continue the policy of this automatic repatriation of persons who come from Haiti, which will probably increase in the days and weeks, given the situation there?” Robinson asked.

Chang said the Government’s policy has been to return Haitian refugees, as no major reason was seen not to, because the areas they were sent back to were located in the far south and north of Haiti which are relatively calm.

“There [were] no reports of any significant challenges in these areas at the time we were doing it,” he said.

“We’ve even had [Haitians] that will return, would take a few weeks and then come back again, because they know the routine and they’re in pretty good shape. We are looking at the situation as it is now. The deterioration in urban Haiti, in particular Port-au-Prince, is a 24-hour cycle. As the situation changes we’ll discuss it and look at what we may have to do to change our situation,” he said.

On Wednesday, the Jamaica Defence Force, responding to Jamaica Observer queries on the state of preparedness of the army to deal with Haitians who could arrive here illegally, said it remains on high alert.

The day prior, Chang had given assurances that Jamaica’s security apparatus had been galvanised and monitoring heightened as part of a blockade against any of the more than 4,000 Haitian prison escapees possibly making their way here.

In August last year, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said Jamaica’s soldiers would be deployed to Haiti as part of the multinational security force approved by the United Nations Security Council.

That force was expected to be led by Kenya, which had pledged 1,000 police to spearhead the mission with support from Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, and Jamaica.

However, a Kenyan court in January this year prohibited the deployment of Kenyan police officers, calling it unconstitutional after opponents of the mission challenged the decision.

Last month it was revealed that 150 Bahamian soldiers were en route to Jamaica for joint training with Jamaican soldiers in preparation for the multinational force mission.

On Thursday, Haiti’s main port was forced to close as chaotic gang violence engulfed the country and the United States told the absent Haitian prime minister to enact “urgent” political reform.

The Haitian Government extended a state of emergency by one month in the west of the country, which includes the capital, as prisoners sprung from two jails last week swelled the ranks of gangs enforcing their control of much of the nation.

Caribbean Port Services, the sole operator of the port in Port-au-Prince, cited “malicious acts of sabotage and vandalism” as it announced the decision to suspend all services.

On Wednesday, gangs again targeted police by setting fire to a headquarters in Bas-Peu-de-Chose, a neighbourhood in the capital. Officers escaped before the attack, which also destroyed several police vehicles, according to Haiti’s police union Synapoha, which said that 10 police stations have been destroyed and at least 15,000 people are estimated to have fled the worst-hit parts of Port-au-Prince.