US begins sending unwanted migrants to Palau

The United States has started sending unwanted migrants to a sparsely populated archipelago in the tropical Pacific, the island nation of Palau said yesterday.

Washington has accelerated efforts to expel undocumented migrants and asylum seekers under US President Donald Trump, proposing to resettle them in nations such as Uganda, El Salvador and Rwanda.

The tropical nation of Palau — one of the smallest countries in the world by population — has agreed to take up to 75 deportees under a contentious deal it struck in December.

“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,” he added.