A fact that is not often said is that Jamaica’s number one earner is not tourism, agriculture, trans-shipment, or even reggae music. It is, in fact, remittances.

Individuals who have emigrated or their descendants sending money home through banks or remittance companies is what floats our economy. That’s a fact, whether you like it or not. Suffice it to say, emigration has worked out for us.

When we first started to emigrate, we weren’t particularly popular in England — despite the fact that we were going there to build Britain back up after it was bombed by Germany in World War II. Apart from looking different from the majority of British people, we weren’t docile like groups that were there before, like the Indians, Pakistani, or even Africans. In fact, we were downright hostile.

My father was an immigrant in that era and he has told me of groups of Englishmen going out on a Friday night to do a “Packy Bash”. This was the practice of looking for Pakistani men and beating them.

He also told me of the shock those Englishmen got when they tried to beat up Jamaican men in a similar bash. It worked out really badly for them because we are not remotely docile; then and now.

It wasn’t long before Jamaicans took over much of the illegal enterprises in parts of London, to include narcotics and prostitution. You may remember that a Jamaican pimp was front and centre in the ‘Profuma Affair’ in 1963, which involved prostitution and brought down the British Government.

Our movement into the United States, particularly New York and Miami, has been nothing short of virtual colonisation. So we have done very well because of emigration. Our economy is currently being floated because of our Diaspora and the money they send home.

So why, then, are we so negative about people immigrating to Jamaica?

I am making reference to the recent TCN (third country nationals) outcry. Our country has entered into a bilateral agreement where we will host third-country nationals from the United States “temporarily”.

Persons are asking, “What if they don’t leave?”

My reply would be, “Who cares! Millions of Jamaicans are living overseas, working hard and sending home money that is actually floating our economy.”

People are saying, “Well, they are deportees.”

My feeling is that most of the people who live in the United States’ Jamaican community are either individuals who violated their visa and stayed, or descendants of those who did the same. Who are we to look down on anyone?

People are saying, “Some of them may be criminals.”

Me: “Well, it’s possible, but unlikely.”

There will be a verification system that guarantees it is not people with criminal records who are being sent.

The truth of the matter is that we are just xenophobic and anti-immigration, just like US President Donald Trump.

You are OK with immigration as long as no one is coming into your country, but you have no problem with us sending our poor to their country. That’s not fair.

Why are we always so hungry to hate? We don’t even know who the people are, but we are branding them as criminals and making it be known that we don’t want them here. Is it that you really think that every deportee is a criminal?

Do you like it when our emigrants are ill-treated and made to feel unwelcome? I’m sure you don’t.

Based on what we have done as Jamaicans because of immigration, I think it’s more than reasonable for us to extend a welcome hand to this new group of people who will experience immigration to our country, even if it’s temporary.

Many are saying that we didn’t have a choice. I am sure we were not threatened to agree to this arrangement. However, the harsh reality is that it suits us to do what we can to assist the United States.

Why? Well, as I said before, they are our biggest trading partner. More importantly, they alone will sell arms and ammunition to us. No one else will touch us. You may not like this reality, but this is “our reality”.

The United States is our ally. Millions of us live over there or have lived over there.

The TCN’s will be under our care and, if some want to remain, I hope McKay Security gets a chance to interview them. Workers are short. We cannot supply our own needs. We need an immigrant group. It’s that simple.

You see, we like to pretend. We like to pretend that we don’t need the United States to be happy with us. We like to pretend that we can meet our needs in respect of labour. At this point we simply are not meeting our labour needs. But we like to pretend. Or maybe it’s just that we fail to believe.

Hating immigrants is an unfortunate norm in world history. When the Irish first came to the United States they were signs saying: “No dogs or Irish!”

When the Chinese came years later, they were hated by the very Irish who were previously mistreated.

I personally believe that we have to adjust to the idea that some people from this group will end up staying, and I’m looking forward to welcome them if that is so.

I am not going to assume they are all criminals. At this point in the United States anybody can get deported. People who overstay get deported every day. That doesn’t mean they’re criminals. It simply means they are poor.

There are some things we have to be careful of. We can’t take large volumes of the same people. That will only transfer their culture to our country. We want people to assimilate, not create ethnic towns.

We also have to be careful if we take large groups of people from one country. Then we may import gangs within that group, which will make their living suppressing their own group.

This is very hard to fight when it is part of an imported culture. Gangs such as M13 or the Triads are significant examples of gangs that are often embedded in groups that migrate. Let’s be careful, but just as importantly, let’s be kind with it.

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