The governments of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos islands said on Thursday they will not receive U.S. deportees from third countries. The refusal follows a report detailing that the incoming Donald Trump administration was planning on conducting such an initiative and those countries, as well as Panama, Grenada, and Mexico were among the countries potentially receiving deportation flights.
Both countries issued statements of their own after the report, with the office of Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis saying the country "simply does not have the resources to accommodate such a request." "The prime minister's priorities remain focused on addressing the concerns of the Bahamian people."
The office did acknowledge discussions about the matter but provided no further details. It did say the office received a proposal but that it was "reviewed and firmly rejected by the prime minister." "There has been no further engagement or discussion with the Trump transition team or any other entity regarding this matter," said Davis' office. It added that the position won't change.
Turks and Caicos Minister of Immigration and Border Services Arlington Musgrove, on his end, also rejected the notion, saying that even though the government "remains committed to maintaining strong diplomatic relations with the United States," the government is "steadfast in our commitment to protecting the interests of the Turks and Caicos Islands and upholding the integrity of our immigration system."
The official told the Miami Herald that the British dependency will not allow external policy to dictate its national security, especially considering it's already struggling to address a surge of irregular migration from Haiti.
"Turks and Caicos, like all nations, has the sovereign right to determine who may reside within its borders. The unilateral imposition of third-country deportation policies, such as those reportedly under consideration by the incoming Trump administration, is fundamentally at odds with international norms and legal standards," Musgrove said.
"We are deeply concerned about any suggestion of displacing individuals to countries with which they have no connection. Such policies disregard the cultural, social, and economic implications for receiving countries and the humanitarian impact on the individuals affected."
It is not be the first time the Trump administration tries such an attempt. Migrants were sent to Guatemala in 2019 as part of an agreement aimed at accepting people from third countries seeking asylum in the U.S.
Under the policy, some migrants who requested asylum in the U.S. were put on a plane not knowing where they were going. The practice continued in early 2020 but on a comparatively small scale and stopped after the Covid-19 pandemic began.
Asked about the initiative, Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told NBC News that the president "was given a mandate by the American people to stop the invasion of illegal immigrants, secure the border, and deport dangerous criminals and terrorists that make our communities less safe." "He will deliver."
Trump also reportedly wants Mexico to take in nationals from third countries. The president-elect also wants the country to take non-Mexicans rejected at the border, something the Claudia Sheinbaum administration is doing, and is reportedly seeking for asylum seekers to stay there as well, even though the country has called that a "red line" in the past.
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