President Donald Trump has been in office for nine days and he has set about his promises with much gusto.

He said there would be a crackdown on illegal immigrants and that they would be pursuing an America first policy.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE ) is rounding up migrants and putting them on planes bound for where they came from.

This kind of mass action has never been seen before in American history.

We have heard of “By Order of the Peaky Blinders”. Now it is “By Executive Order of President Trump.”

There is a crackdown on immigrants more so illegal ones and many are encouraged to make lives in their own country.

By all accounts, there are around 1.2 million Jamaicans living in the United States with thousands doing so illegally.

It is said that as of now 5,000 face deportation. That number could easily escalate way beyond that figure.

Jamaica’s relationship with the United States will be redefined. 

Is the Government prepared for that and does it have a plan?

Donald Trump may very well be sending planes here filled with Jamaicans who dreamed of a life in America. What are they going to do once they are back here? Has the Government prepared accommodation for them?

Is there a rehabilitation process in place for them? 

One minute you are living on the Upper East side, then the next you are back in Denham Town.

Brazil says it won’t be turning away American planes deporting its people. Colombia’s president initially balked at the idea but with President Trump announcing he would place a 25 per cent tariff on that country’s goods, the president of Colombia had a change of heart, offering to send his plane to pick up his people.

What will Jamaica do?

Both Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Minister of Foreign Affairs Kamina Johnson-Smith must tell the country what they intend to do.

Jamaica faces an influx of a new type of deportee.

President Trump has already put a 90-day hold on foreign aid. This will hurt Jamaica and aid will only flow again under certain prescribed conditions. There’s a new sheriff in town and he ain’t playing so buckle up.

On Inauguration Day, President Trump issued an Executive Order pausing all new foreign development aid for 90 days.

It read in part: “The United States foreign aid industry and bureaucracy….serve to destabilise world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries. The President has directed a review to determine whether to continue, modify or cease each foreign assistance program.”

If Jamaica was hit by an earthquake next month, it could not expect to get help from the US, though it may do so if pressed on humanitarian reasons—begrudgingly. 

All the more reason why Jamaica must now look not to depend on foreign powers and get the country into a position where it is self-reliant. The image of Jamaicans standing in line around the US embassy in the hope of acquiring a US visa to get out of their country is an abomination.

You are not wanted in the United States so stay home and make Jamaica great. Build a better Jamaica, one where you can live well and prosper. President Trump does not want you in his country.

Why be a second-class citizen in America when you can be a first-class one at home?

President Trump’s decision to pull out of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change and withdrawal from the World Health Organisation will impact Jamaica and not for the better.

“Kash Patel (likely to be the next FBI boss) will not tolerate Jamaican criminals operating in the United States and they will be dealt with swiftly. President Trump will not accept ‘Bad Man’ culture in America. Jamaicans who entered illegally and then found a way to get citizenship will face deportation. Their children will not be able to claim birthright citizenship. They are not Americans, they are the children of illegal immigrants—aliens who do not belong here,” said former state attorney of Dale County in Florida, Heathcliff Monroe.

Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis has said that Jamaicans and others remitting money back home should prove that they are legal American citizens. If this move was to come to pass it would hurt Jamaica’s economy with remittances being one of its main revenue earners.

Around US$2.5 billion from remittances flow into the Jamaican economy. Remittances inflows to GDP stand at around 25 per cent, according to the World Bank.

DeSantis said: “What happens is people will come illegally because they can work menial tasks but make a lot more money in the US than they can in a third world country [Jamaica]. So they come, make money and send money back in remittances to their family, friends, wherever in their home country.

“We are going to impose ID verification for foreign remittances. The money transfer companies have to run you through to make sure you are lawfully able to be in the country and to send money outside of our country. That will be a huge deterrent for people coming to the state of Florida illegally. I think the Trump administration is going to do something on remittances but I think they may need Congress to do some of that but who knows whether Congress will do anything? We have an opportunity to do it here in Florida. It makes a lot of sense. We do not have time to waste.”

This is ominous. What DeSantis is saying is, you cannot come to America illegally and your home country profit from that.

Minister of Finance Fayval Williams will now have to pay attention to this and its likely ramifications for Jamaica. It will hurt many finance companies like Jamaica National and JMMB who have significant remittance businesses.

This could be a nightmare scenario for the present administration. For the third quarter, the Jamaican economy contracted by 3.5 per cent. The commercial banks are not taking the signal from the Bank of Jamaica to lower interest rates. Yesterday the Federal Reserve took a wait-and-see approach and did not reduce its interest rate.

There is a travel advisory on Jamaica and President Donald Trump who is transactional may decide to insist that Americans do not vacation in Jamaica if the government doesn’t see things his way and comply—“ I find your lack of faith disturbing” as Darth Vader once said.

Then there is that potential block on remittances—all this in an election year. 

President Donald Trump could cripple the Jamaican economy and make Jamaicans suffer if he doesn’t get his way. He knows it, and the Jamaican Government knows it, so what are they going to do about it?