As locals enjoyed beverages at their favorite social venue on the night of Friday, Sept. 4, Guyanese immigration and protocol officers were receiving four Cubans and two Afghan nationals under the Trump administration’s controversial third-country deportation system through which it is dumping U.S. deportees on Caribbean and other nations.
The six are the first of many expected to follow in the coming months as Washington ramps up pressure on regional member states to accept people it is deporting.
The arrival of the first batch came just days after fellow regional bloc member nation, St. Lucia, was due to accept its first group as well, joining Belize and St. Kitts as countries that have already confirmed receiving such deportees from the U.S. since the start of this year. Talks with a number of other nations including Jamaica and Antigua, for example, have reached an advanced stage, but haggling about the numbers that governments must accept appears to have worked against the arrival of their initial batches.
In the case of Jamaica, varying numbers are being bandied about, with local The Gleaner newspaper reporting that government officials had offered to accept and receive up to 10,000 non-national deportees; but latest indications are that the number would be capped at 25 every two weeks. Opposition parties and rights groups have railed against the plan in a manner similar to Antigua’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne, who has made it clear that small island nations like his are being pressured and bullied by the U.S. to comply with American policy edicts. Pressure has come in the form of the withdrawal of visa privileges for Antiguans and payment of a visa bond of up to $20,000 for locals applying to travel to the US. Most who have struggled to come up with the money and had traveled for interviews to the U.S. Embassy in Barbados have reported being rejected for visas. Nevertheless, Browne said they should not despair just yet.
“Stand firm against the evil, discriminatory, and bullying practices of the powerful,” Browne said recently. “Do not fear. Do not despair. Soldier on in optimism for a brighter future. Do not worry, my dear people. Do not fear. We are covered by God’s almighty hand. The challenges that are meant to break us will certainly make us stronger.”
St. Lucia Minister of External Affairs Alva Baptiste said that the country is in no position to financially care for the new arrivals. “It’s almost a pilot project for us. This is all new to us. And we are going to grapple with it,” he said.
So far, all the receiving nations have suggested that the International Organization for Migration (IOM) will be responsible for operational and implementation aspects of the program. “The IOM will cover the costs of receiving, housing and supporting individuals relocated to Guyana, and will provide the services needed for their integration, including access to communication with legal representatives and family members,” Guyanese officials said, as they announced the arrival of batch number one.
“The government of Guyana will not bear the financial cost of the program. IOM has confirmed that it will not assume, and that this arrangement will not transfer to it, any of the government’s responsibilities concerning admission, legal stay, protection or removal,” according to the statement.
For the smaller islands like Antigua, the U.S. has proposed that it takes up to 120 per year while Antigua said it will not deal with more than 10 to 14—a position which has angered U.S. officials, as Antigua is adamant that financial guarantees regarding boarding, lodging, medical treatment, and other basics have simply not been convincing from Washington, so the stalemate continues.
Other nations like Dominica and Grenada—both of which have signed formal agreements as far back as January—await their first planeload as local anxieties about security rise to the surface. The U.S. says most, if not all, of the non-nationals are not criminals but have immigration issues and misdemeanors.
“The arrangement is temporary in nature and does not constitute permanent resettlement. Individuals relocated to Guyana under the assisted voluntary return program do so voluntarily and will await the outcome of their immigration status determination while in Guyana. Depending on the outcome, individuals will either return to their country of origin or relocate elsewhere of their choosing. Their presence in Guyana is governed by a set of pre-defined terms rather than open-ended residency,” according to the statement.
The agreement will run initially for a year.
