Palau, an archipelago of about 350 small islands in the Pacific Ocean, has signed a “memo of understanding” with the Trump administration to take up to 75 “third country nationals” who cannot be returned to their home nations, the office of Palau’s president said on Wednesday. In return, Palau will receive $7.5 million and other aid.
The arrangement will allow for people who have never been charged with a crime to live and work in Palau, “helping address local labor shortages in needed occupations,” according to the statement from the office of Palau’s president, Surangel Whipps Jr.
The Trump administration has been intensifying its efforts to deport people to countries where they have no connections, according to a recent analysis of public immigration court data. Last month, lawyers for the Department of Homeland Security filed almost 5,000 motions to dismiss asylum cases and force applicants to seek protection elsewhere, according to the analysis, a staggering increase from this summer.
Federal officials have been working out “safe third country” agreements with a few nations, including Honduras and Uganda.
Palau’s leaders and the Council of Chiefs, a board of 16 traditional leaders who advise Mr. Whipps, had resisted entering an agreement to take migrants. Among other concerns, they had noted that Palau did not have a refugee policy or resettlement program, and faced significant domestic challenges that left it with few resources to spare.
Palau’s minister of state, Gustav Aitaro, and the U.S. ambassador to Palau, Joel Ehrendreich, signed the agreement in a ceremony on Wednesday aimed at deepening cooperation between the two nations, which have long been closely linked.
Palau, with a population of about 18,000, was administered by the United States after World War II and became independent in 1994. But the two countries have maintained tight ties through an agreement known as “free association,” which gives Palauans the right to work, live and study in the United States, while Washington funds the local government and has military access to the archipelago. That arrangement was renewed last year under the Biden administration with a pledge of about $900 million in aid to Palau over 20 years.
The new agreement calls for the United States to provide $7.5 million to help Palau with “public service and infrastructure needs” related to the receipt of migrants and more funding and cooperation in other areas, including health care, security, pensions, disaster resilience and security, Mr. Whipps’s office said.
