–‘The United States cannot just dump people into Guyana’
President Irfaan Ali has confirmed that Guyana has accepted six persons deported from the United States under a third-country arrangement, while maintaining that the country conducts its own vetting and can reject anyone proposed for transfer.
During an interview with Al Jazeera’s Talk to Al Jazeera, Ali confirmed the interviewer’s statement that six persons had so far been sent here under the arrangement.
The President said the United States supplies Guyana with the names of persons being considered for relocation and that local authorities then conduct their own assessment.
“The United States cannot just dump people into Guyana,” Ali said, adding that Guyana retains the authority to reject proposed transferees.
Ali said the programme is being managed by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which is responsible for the reception, accommodation and support of those transferred.
The six—four Cubans and two Afghans—arrived in Guyana on Friday, September 4, one day before the government publicly announced that it had concluded the migration arrangement with Washington.
The arrangement is to remain in effect for one year and, according to the government, does not constitute permanent resettlement. Those transferred will remain in Guyana while their immigration status is determined and could subsequently return to their countries of origin or relocate elsewhere.
The government has said that only persons choosing relocation to Guyana of their own volition would be accepted. It has described them as skilled and non-criminal individuals and said the United States will bear the full cost of the programme.
During the interview, Ali emphasised Guyana’s right to assess and refuse proposed transferees but did not disclose the maximum number of persons who could be accepted under the agreement.
He also did not address the immigration status under which the six entered Guyana, whether they are permitted to work, how long their individual cases could take or what would happen if they cannot be returned or relocated.
The complete agreement has not been published, and the government’s announcement referred only to a “limited” number of persons.
Ali’s comments represent his most detailed public defence of the vetting component of the arrangement since the arrival of the first group.
The agreement has attracted criticism from the opposition and civil society.
The Alliance For Change has called for its publication and debate in the National Assembly, contending that an arrangement affecting Guyana’s immigration system, sovereignty and international obligations should not have been concluded without parliamentary scrutiny.
Opposition parliamentarians Sherod Duncan and Amanza Walton-Desir have also sought information on the maximum number of persons to be received, their legal status, employment rights and the arrangements for their eventual departure.
Walton-Desir had said that information available to her suggested Guyana could receive up to 12 persons monthly for 12 months, potentially amounting to 144 people. She did not identify the source of that figure, and it was not included in the government’s announcement.
Although Ali confirmed the number received and explained the vetting process, the interview left unanswered the wider questions about the scope of the programme and the long-term position of persons who cannot—or do not wish to—leave Guyana.
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