PERMANENT secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Ambassador Sheila Sealy Monteith has warned that as the security situation continues to deteriorate in Haiti, Jamaica is likely to see more criminals, illegal migrants, and refugees heading for its shores.

On Tuesday, Sealy Monteith told Parliament’s Internal and External Affairs Committee that increased infiltration by both documented and undocumented Haitian migrants, some of whom have ill-intent or are involved in transnational organised crime, remains a challenge for Jamaica.

“It should be noted that two of the prime suspects in the assassination of the late Haitian President [Jovenel Moïse] were apprehended in Jamaica following illegal entry,” said Sealy Monteith.

The veteran public servant said the risk for increased migration is heightened due to frequent civil unrest as well as recurring natural and man-made disasters in the violence-torn, French-speaking territory.

She told the committee that, “Haitians have been involved in illegal activities in Jamaica as they represent a significant percentage of foreign nationals arrested and repatriated each year, owing to criminal convictions for immigration and narcotics-related offences.”

Several groups of Haitians have arrived in Jamaica since last year as they flee the gang violence that has escalated since the assassination of the president.

As recently as last weekend an undetermined number of Haitians arrived by boat in Portland. Eight of them were rounded up on Sunday and taken to Port Antonio Hospital for health checks. They are currently being processed.

It is suspected that other Haitians, including women and children, who were in that group avoided detection after the boat in which they travelled landed.

While she did not address the latest batch of arrivals, the permanent secretary said that “in relation to undocumented migrants, some of whom have subsequently applied for refugee status, two groups were returned to Haiti and one remains under special temporary protection regime.

“They are being cared for by the State until such time as they are returned or other measures are prescribed”.

Sealy Monteith reminded the committee that Jamaica also agreed to a request from the Mustard Seed Communities to receive a set of disabled Haitian children for care. The group of 59 children and 13 caregivers arrived in Jamaica on March 29.

She told the committee that the establishment of the Transitional Presidential Council in Haiti and its formal installation marked a critical step forward in addressing the protracted, multi-dimensional crisis in Haiti.

“The council represents a pathway to bringing an end to the political impasse and to convening free and fair elections. It also represents a Haitian-owned and Haitian-led initiative,” Sealy Monteith said.

Responding to questions from committee member Fitz Jackson, the permanent secretary said the council is being supported every step of the way by the Caribbean Community (Caricom).

She said the regional body is “completely dedicated to seeing through the Haiti process”.

She said Caricom leaders have also been scrupulous that the process is Haitian-led and organised.

The situation in Haiti, a country of 11.6 million people, began deteriorating in late February as well-armed gangs that control most of Port-au-Prince and much of the country went on a rampage they said was aimed at toppling Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

Henry has since resigned.

The gangsters assaulted police stations, prisons, government buildings and the airport, triggering a social breakdown so acute that the head of UNICEF likened life in Haiti to a scene out of Mad Max.

Today gangs control 80 per cent of the capital and commit frequent random violence including murders, rape, looting and kidnappings.

The United Nations says some 360,000 Haitians are internally displaced, with the gang violence forcing 95,000 people to flee the capital and pushing five million into “acute hunger”.