Guyana Takes Its First Six U.S. Deportees, Cubans and Afghans With No Criminal Records, Under a One-Year Third-Country Deal

Guyana's government said on September 5, 2026 that it had received six Cuban and Afghan nationals deported from the United States the previous day under the administration's third-country deportation program. Foreign Secretary Robert Persaud told the Associated Press the six were vetted, had no criminal background and were removed primarily for immigration violations, and that the agreement followed months of negotiation, runs for one year and is not permanent resettlement. The U.N. migration agency is implementing the arrangement.

Guyana joins St. Kitts and Nevis, Belize and St. Lucia among Caribbean Community states accepting small groups of U.S. deportees, extending a program that a federal judge ruled unlawful in February and that the Supreme Court allowed to continue in June 2025. These are people with no criminal history sent to a country they have no connection to while their cases remain unresolved.

Persaud said the U.S. has made no further requests. The deportees will await immigration determinations in Guyana and could be returned home or moved elsewhere.