Stricter US immigration policies under the Trump administration are causing anxiety among Jamaican green card holders, with many reconsidering travel plans to the island. Concerns about re-entry complications have led to hesitancy, especially among those with families in the US. This uncertainty is also raising alarms in Jamaica’s tourism sector, as a potential decline in visitor arrivals could impact the industry. While officials advise legal green card holders not to fear travel, many remain cautious amid the rapidly changing immigration landscape.

Green card holders tremble over travel

... as Trump immigration policies take hold

Jamaica Gleaner/16 Mar 2025/Lester Hinds Sunday Gleaner Writer 

AS THE immigration policies being implemented by the Donald Trump Administration take hold, travel anxiety has developed among Jamaican green card holders in the United States (US). As a result, the island’s tourism industry is bracing for a possible downturn in arrivals from the north.

Reports reaching The Sunday Gleaner are that several green card holders who would normally travel to Jamaica, especially over the summer, are having second thoughts about taking the trip.

The Sunday Gleaner reached out to some of these green card holders to gauge their travel plans.

One green card holder, who asked only to be identified as Richard, said he was still deciding whether to travel to Jamaica later this year as he has done in the past.

“I am half and half. I am concerned with all the new policies that keep changing day to day and I am not sure that I want to take the chance of going to Jamaica and not being able to rejoin my family in the US,” he said.

Richard, who moved to the US in 2016 and got his green card in 2018, told The Sunday Gleaner that his wife and children are US citizens and he would be concerned about not being able to reunite with his family.

“If I was alone it would not matter as I have a business in Jamaica and can live comfortably in Jamaica but, being separated from my family is my major concern,” he said.

Richard, who was born in Westmoreland and worked for Air Jamaica before moving to the US, told The Sunday Gleaner that he was not interested in becoming a citizen of the US but has now applied as his wife is scared for him.

According to Richard, who lives in California, he has no issues with the law, not even a speeding ticket, but he is still concerned about travelling because of the uncertainty created by the changing US immigration policies.

10-YEAR GREEN CARD HOLDER

Gary, the holder of a 10-year green card who also did not want his full name used, told The Sunday Gleaner that he too was having second thoughts about travelling to Jamaica later this year.

A resident of Atlanta, Georgia, Gary said he has small children in Jamaica and wants to visit with them but is having doubts about travelling because of the immigration policies.

Born in St Thomas, he has lived in the US for the past five years, got his green card in 2023 and says he has never been in trouble with the law.

“My doubts come from the fact that every day is something new and I feel that I may have problems re-entering the United States,” he said.

Gary noted that he felt more comfortable and travelled to Jamaica last year under the Joe Biden Administration.

Edmund Bartlett, minister of tourism, speaking with The Sunday Gleaner, acknowledged that the tourism sector was bracing for the possibility that the US immigration policies could affect arrivals.

“The information that we are getting is that green card holders are feeling intimidated about travelling and this could impact us,” Bartlett said.

Bartlett said the US remains Jamaica’s major tourist market and that his ministry was monitoring how the immigration policies would affect US outbound airline traffic.

He said the Jamaican tourist industry still has the possibility of tapping into the European, African American and Asian communities in the US.

Bartlett noted that flights to Jamaica are still down but his ministry would be aggressively partnering with airlines and engaging them.

He said the airlift supply chain is still being impacted by airlines being unable to get new planes to increase seat capacity.

Lorraine Smith, a Jamaican flight stewardess with Spirit Airlines, said she has seen an impact on airline loads.

PLANES ARE NOT AS FULL

“The planes are not as full as they usually are,” Smith, who flies into both Kingston and Montego Bay, told The Sunday Gleaner.

Smith said there are lots of seats on the Spirit Airlines flights from Ft Lauderdale to Kingston and Montego Bay as people seem not to be travelling because of uncertainty around the immigration policies.

Audley Deidrick, president and CEO of the Airports Authority of Jamaica, told The Sunday Gleaner that airline loads into Jamaica were down in February this year.

He said while he believes the Trump immigration policies are affecting travel somewhat he could not attribute the fall-off in numbers solely to those policies.

“There is definitely some concern about travel in light of the new immigration policies but there are people who are citizens of the United States who are also not travelling,” he told The Sunday Gleaner.

Deidrick said that, with numbers down on aviation traffic, there was bound to be some impact on Jamaica’s tourism industry.

Figures from MBJ, which operates Sangster International Airport, show that, in January this year, there were 459,679 passengers who arrived in the island through its gates. This was 5.8 per cent less than the budgeted 488,348 and 7.5 per cent fewer than the 496,689 recorded in January 2024. In February, the number of passengers fell to 403,146, which was also 7.7 per cent less than the budgeted 436,930. It was also down 9.9 per cent from 447,488 passengers who arrived during the same period in 2024.

Deidrick, who was speaking with The Sunday Gleaner before Friday night’s fire at Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA), pointed out that airline traffic into NMIA has been less negatively impacted when compared to SIA.

Meanwhile, Irwine Clare, head of the Caribbean Immigration Service, told The Sunday Gleaner that Jamaican green card holders who have had no legal issues in the past should not be afraid to travel.

He, however, warned people who are uncertain to consult an attorney before travelling.

“I would advise people who have had legal issues in the past to stay at home or seek the advice of an attorney before travelling,” he said.

Clare also urged Jamaican green card holders who are eligible to apply for the US citizenship, noting that there are no good reasons why someone who can apply for citizenship has not taken such steps.

‘The information that we are getting is that green card holders are feeling intimidated about travelling and this could impact us.’

‘There is definitely some concern about travel in light of the new immigration policies but there are people who are citizens of the United States who are also not travelling.’

WHEN A couple from Colombia who was planning their wedding showed up for a check-in with United States immigration authorities, one was given his next appointment date. The other was detained and deported.

Jhojan doesn’t know why Felipe was detained at the February 5 appointment with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. But Jhojan was so worried after Felipe’s deportation that he didn’t show up for his next check-in a month later. Jhojan insisted that The Associated Press withhold the couple’s last names, fearing retribution.

He is among many people who now fear that once-routine immigration check-ins will be used as an opportunity to detain them. The appointments have become a source of anxiety as President Donald Trump presses ahead with a campaign of mass deportations, and the number of people in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody has reached its highest level since November 2019.

The check-ins are how ICE keeps track of some people who are released by the government to pursue asylum or other immigration cases as they make their way through a backlogged court system. The government has not said how many people ICE has detained at such appointments or whether that is now standard practice, but immigration advocates and attorneys are concerned people might stop showing up, putting themselves further at risk of deportation.

“If you show up, they’ll deport you. If you don’t, they’ll deport you, too,” Jhojan, 23, told the AP this week.

US GOVERNMENT SAYING LITTLE

ICE and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, did not respond to repeated requests for comment about immigrants being detained at check-ins.

With the federal government releasing little information, it is hard to sort out facts from rumours as fears run rampant in many immigrant communities. However, Trump has made it a priority to deport anyone who is in the US illegally, a sharp shift from his predecessor, Joe Biden, who focused only on immigrants who were deemed public safety or national security threats and people stopped at the border.

ICE has arrested 32,809 people since Trump took office, a senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said last Wednesday during a call with reporters. About 47,600 people are in ICE detention, according to the ICE official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with guidance set by the administration.

It is the first time in four years that ICE has arrested more people than Customs and Border Protection, indicating that more immigrants are being detained inside the US than along its borders.

IMMIGRATION CHECK-INS

ICE calls people in for appointments for several reasons, including issuing a court date. If an immigrant breaks the law during that time or a judge declines their appeal to stay in the US, ICE can detain and deport them.

In Louisiana, ICE detained an immigrant last month who was asked to show up under the guise of being eligible for another programme with less supervision, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, which declined to offer further details.

ICE also has locked up some people it just recently deemed as likely to qualify for asylum and unlikely to flee authorities.

John Torres, a former ICE acting director, said it is hard to comment in detail without more information about each case. But he added, “the major reason those things take place is because something has changed in their status or something’s been discovered about their background.”

SOME ASYLUM-SEEKERS HAVE BEEN TARGETED

An immigrant from Ecuador who is in his 20s is among the asylum-seekers who have been detained, according to attorney Rosa Barreca.

It happened at the man’s first check-in, on February 3. The man had turned himself in to border agents after entering the US illegally three weeks earlier. ICE officials at that time interviewed him and released him from custody, concluding that he had a reasonable fear of persecution if he returned to his home country, according to Barreca.

Releasing him suggested that ICE wasn’t concerned he would flee. The fact that he didn’t made it easier for ICE to jail him.

“The family called me surprised and in a panic,” said Barreca, who runs a private practice in Philadelphia, where the man’s family lives. “When I asked the reason, he just said it is based on the executive orders and didn’t specify anything further.”

He had no criminal convictions and no contact with police during his few weeks in the US, Barreca said, ruling out every red flag she can imagine.

LAWYERS TELLING IMMIGRANTS TO PREPARE

Lawyers cannot advise clients to simply skip the meetings, which would lead to deportation orders. Instead, advocates and lawyers urge immigrants to prepare for appointments and the possibility of detention. They are cautioning immigrants to note sudden changes in how their check-ins are conducted – such as appointments that were always virtual instead being done in person.

They are also encouraging immigrants to make emergency child care arrangements and to provide details of their cases with friends and family. That includes sharing a unique identification number that ICE uses to track people.

Immigrant rights groups say people should bring someone, preferably an attorney, to ICE appointments.

Advocates are also returning to a tactic from the first Trump administration by telling people to have a group of supporters walk them to their check-ins and wait outside.

“When people feel unsafe going to report, it’s setting everything up for failure,” said Heidi Altman, vice-president of policy at the National Immigration Law Center. “It undermines the trust that people need to have.”

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