SIXTY of the 1,317 people deported to Jamaica in 2025 were convicted of murder, manslaughter or attempted murder in the deporting country, with 52 of them being sent from the United States. One was deported from Canada, five from England, and two from ‘other’ countries. The information is outlined in the 2025 edition of the Economic and Social Survey Jamaica, a publication of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ).
It listed 171 of the deportees having possession of drugs convictions, with a significant majority – 142 – coming from the USA. Two were deported from Canada, three from England, while 24 were sent back from other countries. The 2025 list of deportees also included 134 people convicted for the serious offences of wounding, assault and battery.
The US again topped the list of these deportees with 115. The sexual offences category listed 63 deportees last year, with the US sending back 50, Canada four, England five, while four came from other countries. However for the vast majority of deportees, 610 were sent back to Jamaica for immigration violations including illegal entry, overstay of visa, and illegal re-entry.
There were 95 deportees convicted of firearm offences, with 88 running afoul of the law in the US. Other offences on the list included larceny, fraud/false document, kidnapping, and money laundering. Of the total 1,317 deportees in 2025, 967 came from the US, which has a set policy of deporting Jamaicans to their homeland on the last Thursday of each month.
Last year saw Jamaica also receiving 70 deportees from Canada, 25 from England, and 255 from other countries. The total represents a 140 per cent increase when compared to the 547 who were returned to Jamaica in 2024. In May, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Senator Kamina Johnson Smith said approximately 2,500 Jamaicans have been confirmed for deportation from the US this year.
Johnson Smith provided the update while speaking at a press conference at the Office of the Prime Minister as she moved to dismiss reports that some 4,000 Jamaicans are set to be deported from the US as part of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. “Allow me to be clear that 4,000 Jamaicans are not being returned now. For some time it has been in the public domain that the US authorities had close to 4,000 persons in their records with final orders for deportation against their names.…
Summary from source