Eight more foreigners to arrive under the Belize–US Safe Third Country Agreement

A second group of foreign nationals is expected to arrive in Belize under the Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States.  The group is scheduled to land tomorrow aboard a deportation flight carrying eighteen passengers. Ten are Belizean nationals being returned home, while the remaining eight are foreign nationals who are expected to be processed separately under the agreement.  The eight include five Haitian nationals and one national each from Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua.  Government officials have maintained that the country does not automatically accept everyone referred by US authorities. Each person must first undergo security and background checks, followed by screening and processing after arrival.  Some two weeks ago, Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oscar Arnold, explained the vetting process and the safeguards Belize applies before accepting anyone under the arrangement.

Oscar Arnold, CEO, Ministry of Foreign Affairs: “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 in 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. “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. 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.”

This latest arrival follows the transfer of the first person accepted under the arrangement, a forty-one-year-old Haitian national who arrived in Belize on July 10.