The Antigua and Barbuda government has made public the letter sent to the United States regarding its decision to facilitate third country refugees so as to mitigate scenarios where Washington cannot return these individuals to their state of birth or origin.
Prime Minister Gaston Browne, speaking on his weekly radio programme, said that the letter sent to Washington in August last year details a number of concerns that Antigua and Barbuda had regarding the acceptance of refugees that were being expelled from the United States to third party countries.
He told radio listeners that under normal circumstances, he would not have released the sensitive details of the letter to the public, but he wanted to inform Antigua and Barbudans that his administration had approached the matter with due care and attention.
‘This letter sent five months ago showed our intent to cooperate with the US government. However, at the same time, expressing our concerns about certain aspects and literally stating just how we see this issue and how we will participate in the programme. ‘Now, I am not sure if this is what provoked the ire of certain individuals, but we could not just have accepted refugees and deportee without expressing those concerns,’ Browne said on the programme.
He said that he published the letter to further concretise in the minds of the population that the government was not ‘frivolous’ on the issue and that the matter was first discussed as much as six months ago with multiple countries including many here in the Caribbean
‘In the context of members of the opposition seeking to exploit this issue for political purposes, they have been suggesting that we are allowing criminal elements into the country and that we will have thousands of them. This is not so! We are getting licks from within as our political opponents are using lies and misinformation to create mayhem within the society,’Browne said.
He remain adamant that as a government ‘both he and the Cabinet had to defend the national interest even if that means that certain actions are taken against Antigua and Barbuda.
‘We have to stand firm on principle,’ he said on the radio programme, adding that there is a view that taking such a stance would prejudice the issue of entry visas to the United States.
But Prime Minister Browne maintains that if Antigua and Barbuda had agreed to accept large numbers of criminals that this act would destabilise the country and assured the population that high-level discussions are underway with senior US government representatives to have the matter resolved as soon as possible.
Apart from Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, St. Lucia and Saint Kitts and Nevis have all announced reaching agreement with Washington on the issue.
According to the August 11, 2025 letter, which was sent to Michael Kozak, the senior bureau official at the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs of the US Sate Department, Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders, wrote ‘For the avoidance of doubt, only individuals who are (i) designated refugees under U.S. law or (ii) registered asylum seekers with a pending, non-frivolous asylum application recognized by U.S. authorities are within scope (‘Eligible Persons’).
‘No other category of inadmissible, removable, or ‘illegal’ immigrant in the United States is eligible for transfer under this Understanding.’
The letter also notes that ‘Antigua and Barbuda will consider only persons who. have no criminal convictions other than immigration-status offenses; have no pending charges; are not subject to sex-offender registration; are not on terrorism, organized-crime, or sanctions lists; and are not otherwise excludable on security grounds’.
St. John’s said that these persons should possess ‘a certified skill or professional licence recognized by the relevant regulatory authorities of Antigua and Barbuda; and demonstrate at least basic working proficiency in English.’