PRIME MINISTER HOLNESS: Good afternoon. It is my great pleasure to welcome United States Secretary of State, the Honorable Marco Rubio, to Jamaica. Now, I have known Secretary of State Rubio for some time, and I’ve always been very impressed by his deep knowledge of the region. Jamaica is deeply honored that you have chosen to visit us first on your official visit to the English-speaking Caribbean. This visit so early in your term confirms the strength of historic friendship and strategic partnership between Jamaica and the United States, one built on shared values, democratic ideals, and people-to-people ties. Our nations have long been united by a common commitment to freedom, prosperity, and security, and your visit today reaffirms this bond.
Today, we engaged in productive and constructive discussions focused on strengthening this partnership and expanding opportunities for collaboration. During our meeting, we addressed several critical areas of cooperation. Security, one major area, we reaffirmed our commitment to enhancing cooperation in combating transnational crime, ensuring the collective safety of our citizens, and mutually secured borders. We discussed a global war on gangs, and there is already significant policy alignment with both countries in this regard. The United States has been instrumental in supporting Jamaica’s efforts to bolster its marine domain awareness and intelligence surveillance capabilities, which are crucial in our fight against organized criminal networks.
We discussed expanded and repurposing development assistance towards our shared goals, including security. This will exponentially expand our cooperation in fighting lottery scammers, transnational organized crime, trafficking in guns, and building safer communities. We are committed in ensuring our partnership delivers results in driving down criminality and trafficking in this hemisphere.
On Haiti, we look forward to continued partnership with the United States as we seek to work with the Haitian leadership and stakeholders to address the ongoing crises in Haiti. The extraordinary humanitarian, civil, and national security challenges in Haiti pose an acute threat to Haitians, to regional stability, and indeed to its close neighbors, including Jamaica. We agreed that we must do everything we can to stabilize the security situation in Haiti so that they are better able to build capacity and address their political and humanitarian challenges.
On trade, recognizing the United States as Jamaica’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade surpassing $3 billion in 2023, we explored avenues to further expand trade relations between our two countries. The renewal of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act was raised as a matter of critical importance to trade for ourselves and for all CARICOM member-states.
We also explored means to attract increased U.S. investment into Jamaica’s emerging sectors. With our stable macroeconomic framework and positive growth trajectory, Jamaica is open for enhanced U.S. investment across multiple sectors, including energy and nearshoring. In terms of logistics, the discussion touched on working with U.S. companies to leverage Jamaica’s location as a premier transshipment hub in the Americas, and this will further bolster Jamaica’s work as a major logistics hub for global trade.
On labor issues, the United States and Jamaica have enjoyed an 80-year-old history, relationship in terms of bilateral labor agreements, where we provide short-term skilled and semi-skilled labor in sectors such as agriculture and hospitality. We discussed ways to expand and enhance these agreements, including skills development partnerships to upskill and reskill Jamaican workers.
On our Travel Advisory, we discussed significant progress that we are making in bringing down all major crimes, and that Jamaica today is safer than at any time in the last two decades. In fact, crimes against visitors represent less than 0.01 percent of the more than 3 million visitors to Jamaica annually. We are committed to working collaboratively to ensure that travel advisories reflect the current realities and promote travel to Jamaica. I am confident that the dialogue initiated today will lead to tangible outcomes benefiting both our peoples and contributing to mutual stability and prosperity.
Indeed, our concern for enhanced regional and hemispheric security and prosperity was recognized as a shared one. I wish my CARICOM colleagues who are now in Kingston productive meetings as well with the Secretary this afternoon. Jamaica remains committed to fostering a partnership with the United States, one grounded in mutual respect, shared values, and a collective ambition for a stronger and a more resilient future.
I extend my sincere gratitude to Secretary Rubio and his delegation for their visit and for the productive and forward-looking discussions we have had. We look forward to building upon this foundation, deepening our collaboration, and taking our partnership to new and greater heights for the lasting benefit of both our nations.
Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you very much for joining us, and I now give the floor to —
SECRETARY RUBIO: Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER HOLNESS: — Secretary Rubio for his press statement.
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, Mr. Prime Minister, first of all, thank you for the very warm welcome. On Tuesday was – I completed my ninth week on the job. So I told you I’d be here early; I think that’s pretty early. And I’m glad to be here so soon. Thank you to the foreign minister as well for welcoming me, and all the work we do together, and to the people of Jamaica.
The ties, I would say, between the United States and Jamaica don’t need to be explained. They’re incredibly strong. And in particular, my home state of Florida, we were commenting close to – 800,000 to a million Jamaican expatriates who call the United States home. And I asked, was that just in Florida? (Laughter.) Because a very vibrant community that’s contributed so much to the place that I’ve called home for so long.
And so we have a shared history that’s tied together by people. I also would say that some substantial percentage of Americans have traveled here at some point in their lives. And that also binds countries together. Nothing binds countries and cultures more closely together than people. And we certainly have that in common, and we want to continue to make sure that we build on that.
We did touch on a couple of topics. The first is trade. The world, as has been closely followed, the President is in the midst of realigning American global trade policy, primarily to reset global trade in a way that’s fair to the U.S. after 20 or 30 years of what we believe is unfairness – not when it comes to Jamaica, but broader. And from that will come real opportunities to create new alignments and new trade arrangements and new trade opportunities, and I believe Jamaica is one of those places that together we both stand to benefit.
In particular, we discussed supply chains. And we ask ourselves: Why, if so many of these products are destined for the North American market, why are so many of the productive capacities located halfway around the world? And there’s a lot of different reasons why that’s happened. But it makes all the sense in the world to see more productive capacity, more manufacturing, more industry, relocated into our hemisphere. We certainly have the labor and the population and the desire to do so in our hemisphere. It’s closer to the end markets.
And so we want to pursue opportunities to make that possible, and clearly I think Jamaica is one of those places that could benefit; and the prime minister has that vision for the country, and the creation of not just jobs, but jobs that pay even better than the jobs that maybe some could find now. So it’s an opportunity, I think, would be mutually beneficial, and we’re going to actively seek and look for ways to make that possible.
I also think there’s extraordinary opportunities for investment. And we talked about it, whether it’s – particularly in energy. The United States is going to be producing a lot of liquefied natural gas, which is a very clean fuel that we have in abundance and that we seek to export. And it’s also critical, by the way. You cannot have manufacturing without reliable and affordable energy. And so it’s one of those things that I think potentially we could continue to partner on along with other things, whether it’s mining opportunities off the seabed – in essence, to utilize all of the resources of the country in a responsible way that protects your environment, that protects your natural beauty, but at the same time is generating income and opportunity of employment for the people. Ultimately, that’s – governments have two prime responsibilities: the safety and prosperity of their people. And your prime minister and his government is very focused on those two priorities.
We did talk about tourism because obviously it’s a significant part of your economy. And we pledged we were going to go back and re-evaluate the travel advisories as they currently stand to ensure that they do reflect the reality of the new numbers, what the numbers show. Because you’ve made very impressive progress in your general numbers overall when it comes to the murder rate and so forth, but in particular with those travel advisories are designed to American travelers. And I think we need to analyze that and just ensure that the status we’re currently in accurately reflects the status quo and takes into account the progress you’ve already made this year and made last year, year over year, which I think is one of the highest numbers in terms of reductions that we’ve seen of any country in the region.
We have to talk about security, and I think that the prime minister has phrased it in a way that I think is very beneficial, and that is – he used the term “global war on gangs.” Maybe we’ll find some other phraseology in the United States to describe it, but we’re talking about the same problem. It’s amazing, if you look across the region – and really, many parts of the world – how many of the threats we face in the world now that once came from a ideological terrorist organization or from a nation state, are now coming from non-governmental criminal organizations, who in some cases are more powerful than the governments in some of these countries. And we’ve confronted this issue. It’s a challenge in Mexico. It’s a challenge on the border between Venezuela and Colombia. It is the challenge in Haiti, and it’s been a challenge here. And it’s a multifaceted challenge. They are transnational for a number of reasons. One, as an example, is – and we’ve acknowledged this in our conversations that lead back to my time in the United States Senate – how many of the guns and the weapons that are being used by gangs to commit acts of violence here in Jamaica are purchased in the United States and then shipped here. And we want to commit to doing more to stopping that flow at the same time as we do more to commit to increasing your capacity. That’s the other thing I underlined.
What we’re talking about here when we talk about American assistance is America helping Jamaica build its own capacity, its own ability to confront these challenges and solve these problems because security is a baseline for everything. And to that end, we have some good things to announce today here.
We’ve – the JOLT Fusion Center that is starting up again, and that’s been even further strengthened. That’s going to help address lottery scamming. We can announce this synthetics detection equipment for Jamaica‘s forensic labs; another counter-gang recruitment program that we seek to launch as a result of our visit here today; and announce something that I think is really important, and that is software, intelligent software, for the law enforcement here in Jamaica to combat gangs – things like night vision goggles as well, technology. And we look to do more. And on that end, let me touch on a topic that we talked about just a little bit. Well, I’ll touch on what the topic – then I’ll get to this final one.
On – you mentioned upskilling and helping, how can we – it’s a topic we hadn’t touched on directly extensively before. We talked about it today. We seek to go back and find ways that we can partner to create opportunities for skills training so that if those companies – and we can attract those companies if we can attract – whether it’s a logistics center or manufacturing – to come to Jamaica. There’s a workforce that’s been equipped with the skills needed.
Now, we face this challenge domestically as well. We need to do that ourselves. But there may be things that we can do in collaboration with one another. And this touches on the issue of aid – very controversial in the United States, but it’s one of the reasons why I wanted to come here today because it in many ways highlights exactly what our vision for aid moving forward is.
The United States is not getting out of the aid business. We are going to be providing foreign aid. The difference is we want to provide foreign aid in a way that is strategically aligned with our foreign policy priorities and the priorities of our host countries and our nation states that we’re partners with. In essence, how that would work, how it has worked in the past, is USAID or some other entity would come into a country and say, this is what we think you need. And then they go out and hire an NGO that maybe are the ones that convinced them that that’s what you need, and they give them a bunch of money and they come into the country and they do things. Some of these programs are fine. They’re nice things. Other times, not so much. Nonetheless, that’s how it used to be.
How we want it to be in the future is that our embassies are involved with the host government, our hosts, the – our partners. And we ask them, what are your needs? And we provide assistance geared towards the needs of the nation states that are hosting us and that we’re partnering with. At the end, our partner in Jamaica, our partner all over the world, is the government. It’s the host government, who have a clear vision for the future. And to the extent that our foreign aid can be helpful, it is in furtherance of what the people of your country have elected you to carry out.
Here there are a lot of things. We’ve just described some of them. What should our foreign aid be geared towards? It should be geared towards looking for opportunities to increase skills training, looking for opportunities to attract investment and business and trade, and looking, obviously, for opportunities to expand on your own domestic intelligence capabilities. We are going to have foreign aid that is aligned to our foreign policy, and our foreign policy is going to be aligned to our mutual shared interests with the partners that we have all over the world.
And I can tell you, Jamaica’s an incredible partner to the United States. It’s very cooperative on a number of fronts. And we will continue to work together, and we’re going to work closer than we’ve ever worked before because we are now going to have U.S. programs for foreign aid that are going to be aligned with the vision that you’ve elected your leaders to carry out for your country. And that benefits us both.
And so I thank you for the opportunity to visit with you here today and talk about these things. I’m excited that we’re going to be able to follow up on a lot of them and show real progress. The message that I’ve wanted to send in my travels – I’ve had to travel a couple of other places, but I’ve been to the hemisphere now twice – is very simple, and that is that the United States wants to ensure that when countries are cooperative and work with us and partner with us and constantly seek ways to engage us, that that leads to positive results and outcomes.
We – it’s not – you can call it rewarding, but what it really means is it has to be a mutually beneficial relationship. And we want countries in the world, and we want countries in the region, to identify being close to the United States as something that is beneficial and helpful – helpful to develop, helpful to grow, and frankly helpful so that one day many countries can serve – and I think – and Jamaica is already doing this – as a model of what other countries would seek to emulate, whether it’s on security, on trade, on investment, on skills acquisition and improvement. These are the things that we want America – relationship with our partners to look like. And I can think of no better friend in the Caribbean and frankly in the Western Hemisphere than Jamaica and your government, Mr. Prime Minister.
And so we thank you for this chance to visit with you so early. And as I joked a couple times, but I’ll say it again – I think I told it to the cameras already – I wanted to come here early so when I come for the second and third time, they don’t accuse me of only wanting to go to Jamaica. (Laughter.) And – but in many ways, it really truly feels like home and – where I am in South Florida, and I thank you for your hospitality and this opportunity. (Applause.)
MINISTER DIXON: Good afternoon, Prime Minister Holness and Secretary Rubio. Thank you both for your remarks just now. We have several members of the media from Jamaica and the United States in the room with us this afternoon, but we’ll only be taking four questions. And I ask that those who have been selected, that you please stand as you ask your question. And our first question is going to be from John Hudson of The Washington Post.
QUESTION: Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr. Secretary, a Republican congressman —
SECRETARY RUBIO: He came with me. Don’t say I don’t take you to nice places, all right? (Laughter.)
QUESTION: But thank you for the hospitality. Beautiful weather, beautiful country. Much appreciated.
SECRETARY RUBIO: I’m sorry. Yeah.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, Republican Congressman Don Bacon weighed in on the Signal chat breach saying the White House is, quote “in denial that this was not classified or sensitive data. They should just own up to it and preserve credibility.” Do you think that’s true? Also, here in Jamaica, there are USAID employees at our embassy, like so many others around the world, on administrative leave, not carrying out the work of the American people. Do you worry that the DOGE effort won’t ultimately end up benefiting U.S. taxpayers?
And Prime Minister, violence and instability remains in Haiti. What would you like to see from the United States in terms of being a productive force. And a State Department envoy yesterday called the presence of Cuban doctors in Jamaica and elsewhere human trafficking. Do you agree with that?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Let me take the first – I’ve already – I mean, I’ve already addressed the aid one, but let me address it again. This is not about getting rid of aid; this is about restructuring how we’re going to do aid. And when you restructure, there’s some disruption and – but it has to happen. By the way, this is not an idea – this is an idea Condoleezza Rice wanted. This is an idea multiple secretaries of state throughout time have tried to achieve, and we intend to achieve it, because we think it makes all the sense in the world. So I recognize it; there’s disruption involved when you make reform and you make change. But it’s necessary, because our foreign policy and our foreign aid have to be aligned.
Foreign aid is an instrument of foreign policy, okay. It is not a global charity. Jamaica is not asking for charity; they’re asking for development assistance so they can become stronger at their security needs and the other things of this nature. That’s what they’re asking for. They’re not asking for a handout. They’re asking for a hand up, help to build their capabilities so that they become a self-reliant partner and frankly could end up – and already are helping other countries. Jamaica now is contributing to the effort in Haiti, as an example. So these are the kinds of things we want to see in our foreign aid. So look, our goal was not to disrupt anyone’s life. Our goal was to restructure the way we deliver foreign aid so that it is aligned with our foreign policy and with what we’re trying to carry out at our respective missions around the world.
On the first question, let me just say on the Signal thing, this thing was set up for purposes of coordinating how everyone was going to call – when these things happen, I need to call foreign ministers, especially of our close allies. We need to notify members of Congress. Other members of the team have different people they need to notify as well, and that was the purpose of why it was set up. Obviously, someone made a mistake. Someone made a big mistake and added a journalist. Nothing against journalists, but you ain’t supposed to be on that thing. So they got on there, and this happened. I’ve been – so I can speak to myself and my presence on it. I think my role – I – on it was – just speaking for my role, I contributed to it twice. I identified my point of contact, which is my chief of staff, and then later on – I think three hours after the White House’s official announcements had been made, I congratulated the members of the team.
I have been assured by the Pentagon and everyone involved that none of the information that was on there, though not intended to be divulged – obviously that was a mistake and that shouldn’t have happened and the White House is looking at it – but that none of the information on there at any point threatened the operation or the lives of our servicemen. And in fact, it was a very successful operation, and it’s an ongoing operation. But that was the intent behind it, and again, I think the Pentagon has made it clear that nothing on there would have endangered the lives or the mission. And the mission has been very successful.
QUESTION: Was it classified, the information?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, the Pentagon says it was not. And not only did it say it was not – they make very clear that it didn’t put in danger anyone’s life or the mission. The – there was no intelligence information. And understand – when this story first broke, they were sort of alluding to were there war maps, were there this – there was no war plans on there. This was a sort of description of what we could inform our counterparts around the world when the time came to do so.
Again, look, I think the White House is looking at this entire thing. How did that journalist get on there? Was this the appropriate – and I think they’ll be reforms and changes made so this never – this – well, it’s not going to happen again; it can’t. But I want everybody to understand why this thing was even set up in the first place and also understand very clearly the mission was successful, and at no point was it in endangered. And that’s coming from the highest-ranking officials at the agency that was in charge of the actual operation, which is the Pentagon.
PRIME MINISTER HOLNESS: In terms of Haiti, the United States has been an incredible partner – in fact the lead partner – in ensuring that resources and organization is brought to the crisis in Haiti. In terms of what more could be done, I think we are at a phase in Haiti where there has to be a rapid expansion of the Haitian National Police, the HNP, in terms of the manpower and resources, because ultimately the HNP has to take on the gangs. The present holding situation that we have is not necessarily moving the situation forward as we would all like, so there will have to be a significant expansion in resources in support of the HNP to enable them to take on the gangs.
In terms of Cuban doctors in Jamaica, let us be clear: The Cuban doctors in Jamaica have been incredibly helpful to us. Jamaica has a deficit in health personnel, primarily because many of our health personnel have migrated to other countries. We are, however, very careful not to exploit the Cuban doctors who are here. We ensure that they are treated within our labor laws and benefit like any other worker. So any characterization of the program by others certainly would not be applicable to Jamaica. We are ensuring that our program complies with all the international laws and standards to which we are a party to.
MINISTER DIXON: All right, our next question will come from Tauna Thomas from Nationwide News Network. Please stand.
QUESTION: Secretary Rubio, my question is – or questions in relation to the matter of the Cuba medical cooperation program as well. So the medical mission has been a cornerstone of health care in Jamaica and the Caribbean for over 50 years according to our foreign minister. How does the U.S. reconcile its stance on this program with the region’s reliance on Cuban medical professionals, and what alternatives does it propose to ensure health care stability?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah, well – yeah, I think the first thing is to separate the medical from the labor issues that we are pointing to, okay? This is not about doctors. This is not about the provision of medical assistance. We have no problem with medical assistance and we don’t have a problem with doctors. We have a problem – and I’m not speaking about Jamaica; they’ve – they’re – we discussed this today about following international labor standards and the like. But I’m just talking about this program in general, how it’s operated around the world.
And how it’s operated around the world is that basically the doctors are not paid. In many other parts of the world, the doctors are not paid. The doctor – you pay the Cuban Government; the Cuban Government decides how much, if anything, to give them; they take away their passports; they basically operate as forced labor in many places. Now, there are places that have better labor standards. Perhaps Jamaica is one of those, and that’s fine. But I’m describing generally what the program has been. It has operated in that way in many parts of the world and placed these people in tremendous danger.
And so we – I think we can all agree that the trafficking in labor, be they doctors or farm workers, is not something that we would want to be supportive of, and we find that to be an egregious practice on the part of the Cuban regime. Now, every country operates their program differently, and obviously, because of our relationship with Jamaica we’re going to – we’re going to engage with them on that and talk about it further and have a better understanding. Perhaps none of this applies in the way it’s handled here. But generally that’s the problem with the program. It’s not that they’re Cuban doctors, it’s that the regime does not pay these doctors, takes away their passports, and basically it is in many ways forced labor. And that we cannot be in support of. Again, not speaking, about here in particular, but in general about the program.
MINISTER DIXON: Okay, our next question’s going to come from Will Lowry from The National News.
QUESTION: Thank you so much for taking my question, Mr. Secretary. I just want to circle back to John’s question re: the Signal chat. Are —
SECRETARY RUBIO: Ah, the Signal chat, yes. (Laughter.)
QUESTION: But of course. Are you planning on making the Europeans pay for U.S. operations against the Houthis given that their businesses seem to benefit more from opening of these shipping lanes as discussed in that chat?
And then moving to Russia-Ukraine, I was wondering if you could elaborate on the Black Sea ceasefire deal and whether – how it’s progressing. President Zelenskyy has already questioned Russia’s seriousness, saying, quote, “They are… trying to distort agreements and, in fact, deceive both our intermediaries and the entire world.”
SECRETARY RUBIO: Okay. So on the first question about – look, here’s the problem, okay? These guys, these Houthis, these are pirates, okay? This is a band of – it’s a gang, in essence, that’s gotten control of a certain part, but these are a religious fanatic gang. And these guys have missiles and they’ve launched 174 attacks against U.S. Navy ships, 150-something attacks on commercial vessels. They are literally saying they control – they’ve set up a toll system in the Red Sea. These ships can go, these ships cannot; they don’t blow up the Chinese ships, they don’t blow up somebody, but they blow up all the other ships. This is not sustainable.
And so I think the point that I’ve made publicly is we are doing a great favor to the world, the United States is doing a great favor to the world, going after these guys’ capability of doing this. How can we live in a world where a group like this has advanced weapons, okay, and can shut down a shipping lane and increase the cost of shipping that we’re all paying for? Everything we buy, all the stuff is embedded in the cost and in the price of these things is how much it costs to ship it. And so that’s just not a sustainable thing. We can’t allow it.
So I think the point I would make is not we’re going to make anybody pay – it’s everybody should recognize we are doing the world a great favor going after these guys, because this can’t continue. This is unsustainable. What’s next? Some gang’s going to show up somewhere else and shut off another shipping strait, a shipping lane? That’s not practical. It cannot happen.
So what was your first question? I was so fired up about that one that I forgot the other one.
QUESTION: The Black Sea ceasefire —
SECRETARY RUBIO: Oh, yes, that one – easy ones. Well, look, I think yesterday – our negotiators are en route or perhaps they’ve already arrived, after spending – I think they met with the Ukrainians twice, the Russians once. What we have here is an agreement in principle on a Black Sea ceasefire. We got two things from that. The first is we have more detailed definition of what the energy ceasefire entails, and the second is the principle, concept of a Black Sea ceasefire. Obviously, after our meeting, as part of their release, the Russians detailed a number of conditions that they want to see met in order to do that. So we’re going to evaluate that. Some of those conditions include sanctions that are not ours; they belong to the European Union.
So we’re going to be gathering and sort of when our folks get back, sitting down, going through the proposals, getting their impressions of the conversations so we can more fully understand what the Russian position is or what their ask is in exchange, and then we’ll present that to the President who will ultimately make a decision about what – the next step here. I think it’s a good thing that we have both the Ukrainians and the Russians talking about ceasefires, be they energy or be they potentially in the Black Sea, but obviously this is hard and difficult work. This is a protracted three and a – almost three-and-a-half-year war now, or three-year war. It has a lot of framework of sanctions that have been built globally now that that would – that have to be looked at as part of an ultimate end to a conflict. There’s a lot of things that have to be worked through, and I certainly think the only way you’re going to make progress on these things is by engaging with both sides, understanding their asks, their demands, and seeing what’s possible.
So we’re going to have a chance now to sort of sit down as a team and evaluate, when they arrive, in detail how the meetings went with the Ukrainians, how the meetings went with Russia, what are the Russians asking for, what are the Ukrainians asking for, compare all that, and then make a decision on that basis about what comes next in this process. In the end, the goal here is peace. The goal is to end a war where people are dying. And I think everyone should be happy that the United States is engaged in a process of ending a war and bringing about peace.
It’s not going to be easy. It won’t be simple. It’ll take some time. But at least we’re on that road and we’re talking about these things, and we’re going to test it and see what’s possible. We think we owe that to the world, and the President, I continue to say, is the only leader in the world right now – President Trump – who’s in a position to even get these two nations to a city to talk about these things, albeit in rooms far apart from one another when these talks were going on. But nonetheless they’re talking; it’s the first time in a while that we’ve seen any conversation about this. But we have a lot of work yet to be done, and we’ll know more after we get the readout from our teams.
MINISTER DIXON: Okay, our last question will come from Andrea Chisholm from Television Jamaica.
QUESTION: Thank you. Secretary Rubio, given changes to U.S. immigration policies, there are some Jamaicans who are afraid to travel back to Jamaica even though they are legitimate green card holders. What assurances can you give to those individuals that they would have no difficulty returning to the United States?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, yeah, green card —
QUESTION: And very quickly, sir.
SECRETARY RUBIO: Green card or residency? I mean permanent residents you’re asking me about?
QUESTION: Permanent, yes.
SECRETARY RUBIO: Yes, okay. Okay.
QUESTION: And secondly, what problems, if any, does America have with China’s investment in Jamaica?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, look, I mean, China’s a rich and powerful country. Our problem is not investment, okay? Our problem is predatory practices. That’s what we’re concerned about. What we have seen all over the world is that China comes in and says, here’s a bunch of money for a project they never build. They’ve been – they bring their own workers to do the work; they don’t hire the locals, they bring their own workers. And oftentimes it comes attached with a huge loan that can never be repaid, and now they hold it over your head forever. That’s our concern. Our concern is unfair practices, too, where they come in, their government-subsidized companies underbid everybody because they’re subsidized, but then they come back and charge whatever they want because now they’ve got the contract.
So these are the things that we remain very concerned about. Again, not specifically about Jamaica but in general. And so that’s what we’ll continue to highlight.
On the first point, I would say – let me talk about if you’re a green card holder, you’re not illegally in the United States. You’re a green card holder, you are legally in the United States. What the President has said – and I don’t know how anybody can disagree with this – every country in the world has immigration laws. And immigration laws, if you don’t enforce them, you don’t have immigration laws. Over the last few years we’ve had what, 13, 14, 15 million people enter the United States unlawfully and irregularly. No country in the world can assume that. By the way, that’s not unique to us, right? Even here in Jamaica you’ve faced challenges of migration. And it’s not that we don’t sympathize with people that are leaving difficult circumstances, it’s that no society can absorb mass migration from anywhere in the world. You just can’t do it. And we’re facing that challenge. That’s not specific to Jamaica; I’m just speaking in general.
And so the President is doing something that, frankly, hasn’t been done in a long time. He’s enforcing our immigration laws, and that’s what we’re doing. So if you’re a green card holder, you’re not illegally in the United States. I think the challenge is for those who are illegally in the United States, we have to have immigration laws, they have to be followed. I mean, that – I don’t know why that’s an unreasonable demand. And frankly, I mean, Jamaica is not a major source of illegal migration, to be frank. It’s not even in the top 10 or top 20 for that matter, I don’t think.
So – but that said, we are enforcing our immigration laws. Because here’s what happens if you don’t: You’ll get another 12 million people. And if tomorrow Jamaica announced anybody who wants to come can come in, you’re going to get a lot of people too and it’s going to be very disruptive. So we need to have immigration laws and we need to enforce them, and that’s what we are – that’s what the President is doing. That’s what he promised voters he would do, and that’s what we‘re going to continue to do. But if you’re a green card holder, you’re legally in the United States unless – unless – and I say this because a lot of these people come – unless you’re some student visa holder who is a sympathizer of some terrorist organization and is running around in our streets like a lunatic, burning down buildings and attacking students at universities, if you’re one of these lunatics that’s going to put on a mask over your face and break into a student union center and harass students and – we wouldn’t have let you in in the first place.
If you had told us that was – if you told us, I’m going to America not just to study at your university but to tear up your campus, we would have never let you in. And if you do that once you come into the United States, we’re going to kick you out. We’re going to do that. And I don’t care – I don’t care what terrorist organization you’re supporting, we’re going to kick you out. If you’re a gang member, we’re going to kick you out, okay? If you’re one of these violent gang members that’s coming to the United States, then we’re going to kick you out. That we’re going to do. There’s no doubt about it. But that, the President’s very committed to that. And – but if you’re a green card holder and you’re not any of these things, you’re going to be fine.
MINISTER DIXON: Prime Minister Holness and Secretary Rubio, as we close today’s press conference, we want to thank you for your engagement here today. We thank all of the members of the media and all of the other guests who are here and we wish you safe travels and a happy rest of the day. Thank you.
SECRETARY RUBIO: Thank you.
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