Six foreign nationals deported from the United States have arrived in Guyana under an agreement reached between Georgetown and Washington, marking another step in the Trump administration’s expanding use of third-country deportations for migrants who are not being returned directly to their countries of origin.
Guyana’s Foreign Secretary, Robert Persaud, said Saturday that the group comprised Cuban and Afghan nationals who were removed from the United States over immigration-related issues. Their arrival comes as President Donald Trump’s administration continues to broaden its efforts to deport foreign nationals as part of a tougher immigration enforcement programme.
Persaud said none of the six deportees had a criminal background. He also disclosed that the United States had not made any additional request for Guyana to receive other non-citizen deportees at this time.
The arrangement followed months of negotiations between Guyana and the United States, according to Persaud. He said the agreement will remain in effect for one year and does not amount to permanent resettlement of the deportees in Guyana.
Instead, the six people will remain in the South American country while their immigration situations are addressed, with assistance provided through the Assisted Voluntary Return Programme operated by the International Organization for Migration, or IOM.
Guyana becomes part of expanding deportation network
The agreement places Guyana among a growing number of countries that have agreed to accept people deported by the United States even though those individuals are not citizens of the receiving country.
Such arrangements are commonly described as third-country deportations. Rather than being sent directly to their countries of nationality, deportees are transferred to another country where they may have little or no previous connection.
In some cases, migrants sent under such arrangements may not speak the local language or have any established support network in the destination country. The practice has therefore attracted scrutiny from human-rights organisations, particularly where deportees are transferred to countries with economic, political or security challenges.
Amnesty International estimates that more than 30 countries have entered agreements of this type since Trump returned to the White House, with 15 of those arrangements involving countries in the Americas.
The expanding network reflects the administration’s effort to find alternatives when direct removal to a migrant’s country of origin is difficult or when those countries are unwilling to receive deportees.
Trump officials have specifically pointed to countries such as Cuba, which Washington says have refused to accept some people being deported from the United States.
The result has been a growing reliance on agreements with other governments willing to take the deportees, sometimes under arrangements involving financial payments.
Six arrivals will not be permanently settled in Guyana
Persaud stressed that the Guyana agreement does not mean the six deportees have been permanently resettled in the country.
The one-year arrangement provides a temporary framework under which they can remain in Guyana while their immigration matters are resolved. Through the IOM-supported Assisted Voluntary Return Programme, the deportees will receive resources while decisions are made about their next steps.
According to the arrangement described by Persaud, the individuals could eventually return to their countries of origin or seek relocation to another destination.
Their immediate presence in Guyana therefore represents an interim stage rather than a final determination of where they will permanently live.
The foreign secretary’s comments also indicate that, at least for now, the arrangement involves only the six people who arrived Saturday. He said Guyana had received no further request from the United States to accept additional non-citizen deportees.
That could change as the Trump administration continues to pursue broader deportation options, but Georgetown has not announced any additional arrivals under the agreement.
Deportation campaign expands under Trump
The Guyana transfer is taking place against the backdrop of a much broader immigration campaign by the Trump administration.
During his successful 2024 presidential campaign, Trump pledged to carry out what he described as the largest deportation programme targeting criminals in US history. Since returning to office, however, immigration enforcement has extended beyond foreign nationals with criminal convictions.
Research by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a Syracuse University-based research organisation, estimates that 70.6 percent of foreign nationals currently held in US immigration detention have no criminal conviction.
The figure has become relevant to the debate over the administration’s enforcement strategy because it indicates that a substantial proportion of people in immigration detention are not being held on the basis of criminal convictions.
Persaud’s statement that none of the six people sent to Guyana had criminal backgrounds adds another dimension to that discussion.
Rights organisations have argued that the expanding deportation programme increasingly affects migrants whose immigration cases are not connected to criminal conduct.
The administration has also taken steps to remove legal protections that had allowed many foreign nationals to remain temporarily in the United States.
Among the measures cited in the debate are the cancellation of programmes such as Temporary Protected Status and humanitarian parole, changes that have left tens of thousands of migrants exposed to the possibility of removal.
Reports have also indicated that the administration intends to revoke visas held by roughly 200,000 people seeking asylum, further increasing the number of foreign nationals potentially vulnerable to deportation.
Rights groups raise concerns over third-country removals
Human-rights organisations have strongly criticised the use of third-country deportations, arguing that sending migrants to countries with which they have no meaningful connection can expose them to additional hardship.
One of the concerns is that deportees may have little knowledge of the country to which they are transferred. They may lack family networks, language skills, employment opportunities or other forms of support that would normally help someone establish themselves after removal.
The concerns become more serious when the receiving country is experiencing poverty, political instability, conflict or allegations of human-rights abuses.
Rights advocates have also argued that third-country deportations can place additional pressure on migrants to abandon immigration claims in the United States because they face uncertainty about their circumstances after removal.
The Trump administration, however, has defended the broader deportation effort as necessary to enforce US immigration laws and remove people who do not have legal grounds to remain in the country.
The disagreement over the policy is therefore likely to continue as Washington negotiates additional arrangements with foreign governments.
Guyana faces new role in US immigration policy
For Guyana, accepting the six deportees represents a new role in a US immigration strategy that increasingly relies on cooperation from countries outside the migrants’ homelands.
Persaud said the agreement was reached only after months of negotiations, suggesting that the arrangement was not an immediate or automatic decision by Georgetown.
Its one-year duration also gives Guyana and the United States a defined period in which the temporary arrangement can operate before its future is considered.
The involvement of the IOM is intended to provide support to the deportees during that period. Rather than being treated as permanent residents of Guyana, they will receive assistance while their immigration situations are determined.
The six arrivals could ultimately leave Guyana for their countries of origin or another destination, depending on the outcome of their cases.
For Washington, arrangements such as the Guyana deal offer an additional mechanism for carrying out removals when direct deportation presents practical or diplomatic obstacles. For rights groups, however, the growing use of such agreements raises questions about where deported migrants are being sent and whether their safety and legal rights are adequately protected.
The arrival of the Cuban and Afghan nationals therefore extends a deportation policy that is becoming increasingly international in scope.
With more than 30 countries reportedly involved in similar arrangements since Trump’s return to office, third-country deportation is emerging as a significant component of the administration’s immigration strategy. Guyana’s one-year agreement now places it within that expanding network, although authorities in Georgetown have made clear that no further US deportation request has been received at this stage.
Six Cuban and Afghan Deportees Arrive in Guyana as Trump Expands Third-Country Removals
![Haitians deported from the US land in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, on August 27 [Ketlain Difficile/AP Photo]](https://i0.wp.com/wifeynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/1788636876051.jpg?fit=720%2C480&ssl=1)
Haitians deported from the US land in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, on August 27 [Ketlain Difficile/AP Photo]
