Barbados has not ruled out the possibility of joining several Caribbean neighbours in hosting third-country nationals from the United States, though officials say no formal approach has yet been made by Washington.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Kerrie Symmonds said the Barbados government has not been contacted by the US to discuss any potential refugee or third-country nationals agreement, even as similar arrangements have been finalised elsewhere in the region.
Recently, the United States reached agreements with Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda accept foreign nationals who are being deported from the US but cannot be returned to their countries of origin. St. Kitts and Nevis announced a comparable deal last week, but said it would not accept Haitians or nationals convicted of serious crimes. Earlier this week, Saint Lucia became the fourth CARICOM member to conclude a similar arrangement with the US to facilitate the resettlement of refugees in third countries.
“They are going around the Caribbean, and I would like to think that we would not be left out. They have not reached out to us yet, so we will just wait and see,” Symmonds told Barbados TODAY in an interview. “It is not something we are looking forward to …”
Asked directly whether Barbados would be willing to accept third-country nationals, the foreign minister said, “We will cross that bridge when we get to it,” while stopping short of ruling out the option entirely.
Symmonds declined to outline any potential conditions Barbados might place on such an agreement, reiterating that the country has not yet been approached by the Trump administration.
He noted that other Caribbean states have already set limits within their agreements. Antigua and Barbuda, he said, has stipulated it will not accept third-country nationals with criminal records, while Dominica has stressed that careful deliberations are underway to avoid receiving violent individuals or those who could compromise national security.
In Roseau, Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit described his country’s arrangement with the US as “one of the primary areas of collaboration” following the imposition of partial US visa restrictions. The Dominican government has been holding discussions with American officials in an effort to resolve those entry limitations.
caribbeannationalweekly.com
