Palau senate blocks Trump deal to resettle up to 75 US deportees

Palau’s senate voted in January to block a Trump administration deal, signed by president Surangel Whipps Jr in December, that would allow up to 75 third‑country migrants facing removal from the US to live and work in the Pacific nation. The arrangement is part of a broader assistance package that includes $2m for security initiatives and $7.5m tied to the resettlement of the third‑country nationals.

Palau’s lower house now has to consider the deal, and the final decision rests with Whipps Jr. Senators also proposed a public referendum asking whether the country should accept non‑Palauan individuals removed from the US. The referendum would be non‑binding but, senators said in their bill, would “serve as guidance to the national government in determining whether to accept any individuals” under the US deal.

The senate’s bill said Palau, which is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, “is not suited to serve as a country of deportation, relocation or resettlement” because of its “geographic size, infrastructure and resource constraints”. The country’s traditional leaders, the Council of Chiefs, warned they were “not ready, willing, and prepared to venture into this new area of responsibility” and said they were surprised a signed MOU had been brought to their attention.

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