THE Government on Friday denied that it has been engaging in arbitrary detention or repatriation of Haitians, insisting that Jamaica is compliant with local and international best practices.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Senator Kamina Johnson Smith told the Senate that the Government has to engage in a difficult balancing act in managing illegal Haitian migrants, noting that accepting and catering to them is at significant cost to Jamaican taxpayers.

Johnson Smith, who was responding to a query on the matter from Opposition Senator Sophia Frazer Binns, said that the Haitians who come to Jamaica’s shores illegally are treated humanely and that no one is returned to their country without the consent of the Haitian Government.

“What I can assure you is that Jamaica is compliant with our policy and best practice. We are also in touch with the Haitian Government, and I am in touch with my counterpart [Haitian Foreign Minister] Dominique Dupuy. All Haitians who have been repatriated have been repatriated with the consent of the Haitian Government, and with their prior notification. They have been treated with dignity and there have been no random or arbitrary detentions,” she said.

Frazer Binns’ question was prompted by a statement presented by Johnson Smith on Jamaica’s participation in the 79th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York last month at which Johnson Smith touched on the Haiti situation. Frazer Binns asked if an investigation had commenced into alleged abuse and arbitrary detention of Haitians who arrive illegally in Jamaica as well as the denial of legal representation, and whether the actions the country has embarked on are in keeping with the international refugee policy.

Johnson Smith went on to explain that not all Haitians that come to Jamaica’s shores are vulnerable people seeking refuge from the humanitarian crisis in that country, as criminals have been discovered among them and have had to be detained.

“We have criminals seeking to escape justice who come in by the very same means on the very same boat with a pregnant lady and they do that for a reason. So we are doing our best to manage the circumstances with dignity, with consideration, and within the law. So there are various persons within a process before the courts, waiting for their matter to be heard, or they are waiting for the asylum cases to be processed,” she said, adding that there was a humanitarian concession made in respect of a group that was announced by National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang earlier in the year.

Johnson Smith stressed, however, that certain factors have to be taken into consideration when illegal Haitian migrants breach Jamaica’s shores seeking asylum. She pointed out that the gangs that have been wreaking havoc in Haiti are generally in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and that while there is now some seepage to other areas, they are not present everywhere in the country. That, she said, is one of the reasons that when someone claims asylum, or claims refugee status, there is a legal process to prove that they are in fact entitled to that.

“The fact that you move from one country to another — whether legally or illegally, internationally or nationally — does not ever grant you that status automatically. In every country there’s a legal process. Jamaica is the only country in the Caribbean now that has a refugee policy, and we do stick to that policy. There’s a process, there’s a court process. There are several persons who are now under appeal. That is within our law, and I reaffirm the sensitivity and appropriateness and best possible approach that is taken. First, we had them in the Seventh-Day camp, [which] was assisting us with their accommodation. There is now an alternative that has had to be found, which is in place. And there’s a humanitarian approach that’s being taken to their presence here and that’s managed and as balanced as it can be,” she said.

In response to Opposition Senator Donna Scott Mottley’s concern about countries, including Jamaica, catering to illegal migrants who are fleeing Haiti because of fear for their safety, Johnson Smith said it is Jamaican taxpayers who are footing the cost for the Haitians now in Jamaica and those who are within Government care in different capacities, including, in particular, those who have asylum appeals pending.

“…that is why the public perspective on that is also so strong, and this is not unique to Jamaica. So there is a very difficult balancing act which we have been seeking to attain and to manage by working on not only the political side, but the operational side [as well] to try to support, first in advocacy, and now in actual provision of personnel… capacity and proposals on investment, and bringing in more private and public sector and multilateral actors to support Haiti,” she said, adding that Jamaica’s “managed and… significant actions” in respect of the repatriation of Haitians is the best possible balance at this time.

There has been an increase in the number of Haitians arriving in Jamaica by boat in recent years. The latest group, comprising 20 people, landed on a beach in Kensington, Portland, last Saturday about 2:00 pm.

Five of the Haitians reportedly tried to run from the police, but were caught in a remote area near two cell towers. The migrants were processed at Port Antonio Police Station, then repatriated on Sunday night.

However, after the Haitians landed, human rights lawyer and founder of Freedom Imaginaries Malene Alleyne requested, in a letter to the Ministry of National Security and the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA), that they be granted access to determine whether they can receive refugee status or asylum.

“Given the devastating crisis in Haiti, which does not currently allow for safe, dignified returns, it is essential that each person be screened in accordance with a differentiated approach so that vulnerable groups, such as asylum seekers, victims of human trafficking, women, and children have access to the protection they need,” the attorney said.

She expressed concern over previous cases of Haitians arriving in Jamaica being sent back to the violence-torn country, while noting that, based on Freedom Imaginaries’ count, more than 130 Haitians were expelled from Jamaica without due process since July 2023.

Alleyne has been a staunch critic of the Government and the way each case of Haitians’ arrival in Jamaica is handled.

In September 2023, when 36 Haitians were sent back to their country in less than 24 hours after their arrival, Alleyne, in a letter, accused Prime Minister Andrew Holness and other Government ministers of deliberately trying to impede their access to legal support and information on their rights.

Since March, Jamaica has had in its care 59 orphans from Haiti who were brought to the country through a “a very delicate operation” planned and executed by the Jamaican Government and Mustard Seed Communities with considerable assistance from former United States ambassador to Jamaica Luis Moreno.

According to the UN human rights office, more than 3,600 people have been killed this year in “senseless” gang violence in Haiti.

A new report by the International Organization for Migration has revealed that more than 700,000 Haitians, half of them children, are now internally displaced from their homes.

Some of the Haitians who landed at a beach in Kensington, Portland, on October 5 are seen in a police service vehicle after they tried to elude the cops. (Photo: Kasey Williams)