Guyana in talks with US to accept third-country deportees – Foreign Secretary

Foreign Secretary Robert Persaud has confirmed that Guyana is in discussions with the United States (US) to develop a framework of understanding for the acceptance of third-country nationals deported from that country.

Once the framework of understanding is concluded, an official agreement would be drafted. However, even after the agreement has been reached, Guyana will still retain the right to refuse anyone being sent.

“Guyana and the USA have been in productive discussions on a framework of understanding that is consistent with our national priorities and needs and supportive of the USA’s objectives,” Persaud noted.

Pressed about further details of how the situation would work, Persaud would only say, “We are working; there are active discussions.” If an agreement is reached, Guyana will join a growing number of countries across the globe that already have agreements with the US to accept third-country nationals. Caribbean nations Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda are the most recent countries to reach agreements with the US.

Since last year, the US has sent or made arrangements to send third-country foreign nationals to a range of countries across Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa. These include Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, El Salvador, Belize, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Paraguay, Ghana, Eswatini (Swaziland), Rwanda, South Sudan, and Uganda.

In these cases, the individuals transferred were neither US citizens nor nationals of the receiving countries, and the arrangements have taken place through a mix of formal agreements, temporary cooperation frameworks, and ad hoc security or migration arrangements, often linked to asylum processing, deportations, or onward relocation.

In Guyana’s case, if an agreement is reached, Guyana will not be accepting any persons with a criminal background, with the refugees expected to largely encompass individuals denied asylum in the US but not desiring to return to their home country, wanting to go to another country that is willing to receive them, and who are nonetheless highly skilled individuals.

Additionally, all costs associated with the refugee’s relocation will be borne by the US for the duration of their stay until they are settled, and it is decided where in the country the refugee will be sent.