KINGSTON, Jamaica, Oct 26, CMC – Jamaica’s Consul General to New York, Oliver Mair, Monday dismissed social media reports as “false and michevious” which suggested that Prime Minister Andrew Holness was required to wait in immigration lines at New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport, during a recent visit to the North American country.
“The online posts are both false and mischievous. There is never a time that the prime minister arrives in the United States where he is not afforded full courtesies by the United States government,” Mair told The Gleaner newspaper.
The social media post under the heading “No Diplomatic treatment for Jamaica PM”, purport to show Holness waiting in immigration lines.
But Mair told the newspaper that the prime minister’s visits to the United States are coordinated in advance with the US Secret Service, which also oversees his movements and security arrangements while he is in the country.
The diplomat said that several meetings are held with the Secret Service before each visit, during which officers are assigned to the prime minister’s protection detail and arrangements are made for his movements, including visits to various venues.
“They are involved in every detail of his visit. Members of the delegation are pinned to allow for access to the prime minister once he is in the custody of the Secret Service, and every venue is swept before his arrival,” Mair said, maintaining that Holness does not use the usual immigration checkpoints or wait in routine lines, as the Secret Service coordinates his arrival and departure.
“I am with the prime minister every step of his visit, and he does not go through the normal checkpoints,” Mair said, adding that Holness usually boards his aircraft either first or last, depending on the arrangements.
“Someone is seeking to stir controversy where none exists,” he said, noting also that Holness travels with his own security personnel, whose presence and movements must also be checked by the US Secret Service.
CMC/kj/ir/2026