Guyana Receives Six US Deportees as Questions Mount Over Third-Country Arrangement

Guyana has received six nationals from Cuba and Afghanistan deported from the United States, bringing the country’s newly established migration arrangement with Washington from an agreement on paper into a reality with the arrival of the first group.

The six arrived in Guyana on today, according to Foreign Secretary Robert Persaud, who said they had been vetted and found to have no criminal backgrounds. He said their removal from the United States was related to immigration matters rather than criminal offences.

Persaud said the arrangement was negotiated over several months and will operate for one year. He also confirmed that the United States has not made any additional request for non-citizens to be sent to Guyana at this time.

The development is significant for Guyana because it places the country among a growing number of states agreeing to receive people removed from the United States who are not citizens of the receiving country.

Under the Guyana-US framework, the six individuals are being accommodated under the International Organization for Migration’s Assisted Voluntary Return Programme. They will remain in Guyana while their immigration status is determined and could ultimately return to their countries of origin or be relocated elsewhere.

The Guyanese Government has stressed that the arrangement does not constitute permanent resettlement.

It has also said that Guyana retains the right to review and reject individuals proposed for relocation. The Government says it intends to accept only people who have voluntarily chosen relocation to Guyana. The United States is to bear the relocation costs, while IOM will cover accommodation and support for those received under the programme.

The Government has further said that those relocated will have access to legal representatives and family members and will retain the right to seek international protection where applicable, with IOM facilitating referrals to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in appropriate cases.

The arrangement comes amid a major expansion of US immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump, including the growing use of so-called third-country deportations—the removal of migrants to countries other than their own.

The policy has generated international concern because people sent to third countries may have little or no connection to those destinations. Human rights organisations have raised questions about due process, detention conditions, access to legal representation and protection from removal to countries where individuals could face danger. Amnesty International has documented concerns over third-country removals elsewhere, including cases involving people transferred to Eswatini.

For Guyana, the immediate issue is not simply the arrival of six people. It is how the new framework will operate if Washington makes further requests.

The Government has said the programme is limited, that each proposed individual will be subject to Guyanese review and that Guyana will not assume the financial burden of housing and supporting the individuals.

Those safeguards are particularly important given Guyana’s own social and economic pressures, including demands on housing, public services, employment and social support.

The Government has described the arrangement as consistent with Guyana’s commitment to human rights and international cooperation.

Guyana is not the first Caribbean Community member to participate in arrangements of this nature. The Associated Press reported that St. Kitts and Nevis and Belize have also received small groups of US deportees, while St. Lucia was expected to receive its first group.

But the arrival of the six people gives Guyana’s agreement a human face and raises questions that will become increasingly important if the programme expands.

Who will be accepted, under what conditions, for how long, and what protections will apply if an individual cannot safely return to his or her country of origin?

For now, the Government says the arrangement is temporary, controlled and subject to Guyanese approval.

The first six arrivals, however, mark the beginning of a process that will require close public scrutiny—not only to ensure that Guyana’s laws and sovereignty are respected, but also that the people placed under its protection are treated with dignity and their fundamental rights safeguarded.