Ex-British colony where locals speak English tells Trump it will take in US asylum seekers

A former British colony, which is used to welcoming members of the Royal Family, will now be accepting US asylum seekers under a new deal signed this week. The tiny tropical South American nation of Belize, which gained independence from Britain in 1981, still retains King Charles III as head of state and was visited by Prince William and Kate in 2022.

But now, new visitors are set to arrive in the form of migrants being processed by the United States under a Rwanda-style "safe third country" agreement made with President Donald Trump's administration. The terms of the deal aren't immediately clear, even to the Belize Senate, which must ratify it before it can take effect.

It's likely the Belize-US agreement could be similar to one agreed with Paraguay's "safe third country" agreement, in which asylum seekers currently in the US will be sent there while they pursue their case.

A US State Department post on X called the Belize agreement on Monday "an important milestone in ending illegal immigration, shutting down abuse of our nation's asylum system, and reinforcing our shared commitment to tackling challenges in our hemisphere together".

Belize opposition leader Tracy Taegar Panton wrote on social media that the deal "could reshape Belize's immigration and asylum systems, impose new financial burdens on taxpayers, and raise serious questions about national sovereignty and security."

In Donald Trump's first term, the US signed several migrant agreements that would instead have asylum seekers request protection in other nations, like Guatemala, before proceeding north. The policy was criticised as a roundabout way to make it harder for migrants to seek asylum in the US and was later rolled back by the Biden administration.

Earlier this year, Panama and Costa Rica also accepted US flights of hundreds of deportees from Asian countries - without calling the deals "safe third country" agreements - and thrusting the migrants into a sort of international limbo. The US has also signed agreements, such as deportation agreements, with war-torn South Sudan, Eswatini and Rwanda.

The Belize government said in a statement on Monday that it "retains an absolute veto over transfers, with restrictions on nationalities, a cap on transferees, and comprehensive security screenings".

The government of the largely rural nation wedged between Mexico and Guatemala reiterated its "commitment to international law and humanitarian principles while ensuring strong national safeguards." It said no one deemed to be a public safety threat would be allowed to enter the country.