The United States has started deporting migrants to a sparsely populated archipelago in the tropical Pacific, the island nation of Palau told AFP on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump has led a push to expel asylum seekers and undocumented migrants from the United States, dispatching them to places like El Salvador and Uganda.
Tiny Pacific nation Palau, by population one of the smallest countries in the world, agreed in December to resettle up to 75 deportees in exchange for $7.5 million.
The office of Palau President Surangel Whipps said the first deportee had arrived in the country, a collection of coral atolls and volcanic isles scattered some 800 kilometres (500 miles) east of the Philippines.
“We welcomed our first individual at the airport in late May, brought him to his temporary residence and helped him connect his phone and settle in,” the Palau president’s office said in a statement to AFP.
The deportees are meant to settle down and find jobs in Palau, starting afresh in an unfamiliar place where they may have no family, friends or cultural connections.
But the first deportee barely lasted two weeks after touching down at the international airport near the main settlement of Koror.
“After about two weeks he decided not to remain,” Whipps’ office said.
Basic details about the man, including why he was deported and where he went after Palau, remain a mystery.
Whipps has previously praised the resettlement deal as a win-win for Palau and the United States.
“It’s about winning together,” he said at a signing ceremony in December.
“We help the United States, we help these nationals that need a place to go that’s safe.”
– ‘Be happy’ –
“And hopefully they can get jobs and be happy in Palau.”
The deal requires that all deportees have a clean criminal record and Palau retains full veto rights over who it chooses to accept.
In exchange, the United States pays Palau $7.5 million to meet “public service and infrastructure needs”.
But critics have voiced deep concern, accusing the United States of using nations like Palau as a dumping ground for unwanted migrants.
Lawmakers from Palau’s senate lost a last-ditch legal challenge to stop the policy earlier this year.
“Palau’s sovereignty is disrespected at this time,” said senate leader Hokkons Baules in February.
“We feel they’re dumping their problems in Palau,” he told Australian national broadcaster ABC.
A spokesman for the US Department of State said the Trump administration was “unwavering in our commitment to end illegal and mass immigration and bolster America’s border security.”
“As a general matter, we do not comment on the details of our private diplomatic communications with other governments,” they told AFP.
With some 20,000 people spread across hundreds of volcanic isles and coral atolls, Palau is by population one of the smallest countries in the world.
It has long been one of the United States’ closest allies in the Pacific region, and is one of the few countries to recognize Taiwan over China.
Palau gained independence in 1994 but allows the US military to use its territory under a longstanding “Compact of Free Association” agreement.
In return, the United States gives Palau hundreds of millions of dollars in budgetary support and assumes responsibility for its national defence.
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