Cuban and Afghan deportees from the US arrive in Guyana under Trump policy

Six people from Cuba and Afghanistan have arrived in Guyana after the United States deported them under an agreement that reflects the Trump administration's expanding use of third-country removals.

Guyana's Foreign Secretary Robert Persaud said the group arrived on Saturday because of immigration issues. None had a criminal background, he said. Persaud also told The Associated Press that the United States had made no further requests to send non-citizen deportees to Guyana.

The agreement followed months of negotiations and will last one year. Persaud said it does not amount to permanent resettlement. The deportees will receive resources through the Assisted Voluntary Return program, although the supplied report ends before giving further details about that support.

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The US has not made any further requests

Third-country deportations send foreign nationals to a country other than their country of origin. Those transferred may have no familiarity with the destination and may not speak its language. The Trump administration has pursued such agreements with more than 30 countries, including 15 in the Americas, according to Amnesty International. Some agreements with countries farther afield have involved multimillion-dollar payments.

Trump officials have defended the policy by saying countries such as Cuba refuse to accept deportees from the United States. Rights groups have condemned it as a way to punish migrants and pressure them to abandon immigration claims. The policy has also drawn concern over conditions in destination countries facing poverty, instability, conflict or human rights abuses. The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse estimates that 70.6 percent of foreign nationals in US immigration detention have no criminal conviction.

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largest deportation programme of criminals in the history of America