Grenada Rejects Claim It Will Accept Migrants Deported By Incoming Trump Administration
ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada – The Grenada government is denying claims that the island will be one of the jurisdictions that the incoming Donald Trump Administration has identified to send deportation flights for its promised mass deportation programme next year.
“The Office of the Prime Minister advises that the Government of Grenada has not engaged in any discussion regarding the deportation of migrants to Grenada. Furthermore, no proposal has been presented regarding this matter,” according to a statement issued by the Dickon Mitchell administration.
“This clarification comes amidst concerns raise surrounding an NBC news article claiming that the incoming Trump Administration plans to deport some migrants to some countries other than they own,” the statement added.
On Thursday, the Bahamas government issued a brief statement stating that it had turned down “a proposal from the Trump transition team in the United States for The Bahamas to accept deportation flights of migrants from other countries”.
It said that since the “Prime Minister’s rejection of this proposal, there has been no further engagement or discussions with the Trump transition team,” the statement added.
Apart from Grenada and The Bahamas, the other countries that the Trump team is considering include the Turks and Caicos and Panama.
The US has said that migrants from Venezuela, Cuba, China and other countries who are reluctant to accept their people who have emigrated to the United States have long posed an issue and are barred by federal court orders from indefinitely detaining them.
As a result, many migrants from those countries end up being released into the United States.
In an exclusive report this week, the US-based, nbcnews.com reported that the Trump transition team has already reached out to Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas, Panama and Grenada to work out a deal under which they would agree to receive deportation flights from the U.S.
The report states that the plan to deport migrants, whose home countries are reluctant to accept them to third-party countries where they may have no connection, would be a way for the new Trump administration to work around that issue as it creates what Trump has promised will be “the largest deportation operation in American history.”
The incoming Trump administration which will be sworn into office in January 2025 has a goal of deporting migrants within a week of their arrest and believes this policy will help expedite deportations.
