Opposition Spokesperson on National Security, Fitz Jackson, is again calling for public disclosure of the Third Country Nationals (TCN) Agreement with the United States, following remarks by Minister Audrey Marks at a JLP meeting, in which she cited safeguards in the agreement and her own proposal to import US undocumented workers.

Jackson said given how closely her defence of the TCN arrangement tracked the language of her proposal, he required clarification if the two are, in substance, one and the same. “Minister Marks cannot argue safeguards exist while keeping the document that would prove it locked away. If there is truly no overlap between her proposal and the TCN deal, the simplest way to prove it is to publish the MOU in full,” Jackson said.

The Opposition Spokesperson stated that the Minister’s insistence on safeguards only sharpens the concern, since the public cannot verify protections it has never been shown. The Memorandum of Understanding underpinning the TCN deal remains unpublished, months after it was signed. Which government deny its people information that is in their best interest? 

The Opposition Spokesperson noted that this confusion has been allowed to fester rather than be resolved. He said successive government statements have blurred rather than clarified the distinction between the TCN agreement and the Minister’s own proposal, leaving Jamaicans to guess at what her government has actually committed to.

The PNP reiterates the call for full public disclosure of the TCN Memorandum of Understanding. The people of Jamaica deserve honesty from its government.