Belize Receives First Migrant Under Safe Third Country Agreement

Belize has officially received its first migrant under the country’s Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States. Love News has confirmed that a 41-year-old Haitian national arrived in Belize on Friday, marking the first transfer under the bilateral arrangement signed between the two countries last October.  Initial information received by Love News suggested that three Haitian nationals were expected to arrive. However, the latest information indicates that only one individual was transferred. Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oscar Arnold, today confirmed the arrival and explained that the transfer was carried out through a coordinated effort involving several government agencies. Arnold said the process included immigration, security and administrative checks to ensure the individual met all the requirements established under the agreement.

Oscar Arnold, CEO, Ministry of Foreign Affairs: “We were set to receive three persons under the safe third countries agreement that was signed earlier this year. On Friday we had the first individual come through that program of Haitian nationality and he landed in Belize. He’s a male Haitian national that went through the processes. We weren’t given much details. One had opted to be returned to their country and the other person signaled to the authorities that he would make one last legal attempt to try to extend his stay in the country where he’s at, or at the facility where he’s at. That is as much information that we received on the other two individuals. Part of the process for a safe third country program is that we have to be advised in excess of 72 hours of the individuals that they plan to send, their travel documents, medical certificate, any police checks that were done by the sending countries, and then we have our relevant authorities vet and look at these individuals before we give the OK for these individuals to be sent to Belize. The individual arrived on the flight, border management, immigration, collaborated and making sure that the transfer was a success. And from there then, the refugee department, the refugee arm of the UNHCR then takes over because they go into that program. They house them, they have the finances through the refugee program that they will use the house and to basically provide food and shelter for these individuals.”

The Safe Third Country Agreement, formally known as the Agreement for Cooperation Regarding the Examination of Protection Requests, was signed on October 20, 2025, by Minister of Foreign Affairs Francis Fonseca and U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Katharine Beamer.

Under the agreement, Belize may accept certain third-country nationals transferred from the United States who wish to seek humanitarian protection. According to CEO Arnold, in recent months, Belize had exercised its right under the agreement to reject several proposed transfers after they did not meet the country’s requirements.

Oscar Arnold, CEO, Ministry of Foreign Affairs:  “Under the program, there are some specific guidelines. Obviously, the program is open to the countries under the agreement, CARICOM Nationals, members in the CARICOM area. And this individual, Haiti farms are part of that. And so that is the reason why they’re here. They will be processed through, like I said, the UNHCR refugee program and eventually, after they’ve completed going through the program and any normalcy that is there, they will apply for asylum. And again, that application will come through to the Belizean authorities and they will look at that on a case-by-case basis and from there then it would move on to the instances that you described earlier, where they would then get some level of normalization and then they can apply for some of these services.”

Reporter: Are we limited to how many migrants we accept annually on this program ?  And are there any other processes or requests happening at this time for more arrivals? 

Oscar Arnold, CEO, Ministry of Foreign Affairs: “To my knowledge, we received other requests previous to this one and we denied on specific grounds. As the receiving country, we have the responsibility to do our vetting and then we also have to agree to accept the individuals. That is explicitly written into the agreement. And so prior to Friday, that was the last request that we have received. We haven’t received any since, but only a couple of days have passed. And as far as how long or how many, that again would depend on the refugee program run through UNHCR and the funding that they have available there because they would also have to sustain these individuals for a period of months. And so that would depend basically on their program and their funding.”

Government officials have previously stressed that the agreement contains strict eligibility criteria, including nationality restrictions, comprehensive security screening and other safeguards designed to protect Belize’s national interests. They have also emphasized that no individual considered a threat to public safety will be accepted under the arrangement.

Belize joins several other countries, including Panama, Costa Rica, Paraguay and St. Kitts and Nevis, in implementing migration cooperation arrangements with the United States, while Canada has maintained its own Safe Third Country Agreement with the U.S. since 2004./