More than 500 demonstrators gathered in Kingston recently to protest a government agreement with the United States that will allow Jamaica to temporarily receive deportees from the U.S. before they are transferred to other countries, The Washington Post reported on Monday.

The protest highlighted growing opposition to Jamaica's role in the Trump administration's expanding third-country deportation program, under which migrants are removed to countries other than their own when the U.S. is unable or unwilling to return them directly.

The agreement, announced last month by Jamaica's government, has drawn criticism from opposition politicians, civil society groups and human rights advocates, who say officials have failed to disclose its terms publicly and have offered little explanation of its legal or financial arrangements.

Jamaica's Minister of National Security Horace Chang said the country would accept up to 25 third-country nationals every two weeks. He said the migrants would remain in Jamaica only in transit before being transferred to destinations that may not be their countries of origin.

Chang said individuals with criminal records would not be accepted and that Jamaica would retain the authority to reject any proposed transfer. He also said deportees would be able to seek asylum through Jamaica's courts.

Neither the U.S. Department of Homeland Security nor the Jamaican government has released the full text of the agreement, and neither government has disclosed whether Jamaica will receive compensation for participating in the program, according to The Washington Post.

The State Department defended the administration's immigration policies but declined to provide details about the agreement.

"Implementing the Trump Administration's immigration policies is a top priority," the department said in a statement. "We remain unwavering in our commitment to end illegal and mass immigration and bolster America's border security."

Opposition leader Mark Golding, who attended the demonstration, questioned the government's reliance on U.S. screening procedures for deportees.

"I am concerned that we could have people coming here who are not safe people to have in our society," Golding said. "Errors can be made. At this time, I am not in favor of this agreement."

Organizers said the protest was motivated as much by concerns over government transparency as by the deportation policy itself.

"We are deeply concerned," said Kay Osborne, a governance advocate who helped organize the demonstration. "This commitment was made without parliamentary oversight or public consultation, a failure of transparency that we find unacceptable."

Critics argue Jamaica is ill-equipped to participate in the program as it continues to recover from Hurricane Melissa, which killed at least 45 people last year and caused an estimated $12.2 billion in economic losses, according to government figures. Jamaica also continues to face public safety challenges, recording 674 homicides last year.

"Our country faces severe resource constraints, and our socioeconomic foundation, our existing infrastructure, is not sufficiently robust to accommodate such a commitment," Osborne said.

The Jamaica agreement is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to expand third-country deportations.

According to Third Country Deportation Watch, a project operated by rights organizations, the U.S. has entered into at least 34 agreements and has deported more than 19,000 people to 24 countries under the program.

The administration has argued the agreements are necessary because some countries refuse to accept the return of their own citizens.

Human rights organizations, however, contend the practice allows the U.S. to circumvent protections against returning migrants to places where they could face persecution.

The deportation program also faces ongoing legal scrutiny. A federal court temporarily blocked certain third-country removals earlier this year before an appellate court allowed the practice to continue while litigation proceeds.

Similar agreements have prompted protests and legal challenges in several countries, including Eswatini, Costa Rica, Palau, and Ghana.