Browne says Antigua could accept non-criminal deportees with needed skills
Prime Minister Gaston Browne says Antigua and Barbuda is prepared to consider accepting deportees or refugees from the United States if they are not criminals and possess skills the country needs, while maintaining that criminal deportees will not be accepted.
Speaking on Pointe FM’s Browne and Browne Show on Saturday, Browne said the issue arose after the United States asked countries to sign agreements related to receiving deportees or refugees sent to third countries.
“If they have refugees, or deportees for that matter, who may be involved in minor matters but have skills that can help us, we gladly take them,” Browne said. “However, we made it abundantly clear… we’re not taking the criminal refugees from the third country.”
Browne said Antigua and Barbuda’s position was not new and had been communicated to U.S. authorities months before the recent U.S. visa proclamation.
“We would have written back to the State Department about 90 days ago,” he said, adding that the government set out its conditions clearly at that time.
He stressed that the matter was handled transparently and not kept from the public.
“I’m reporting to my people. This is not supposed to remain as a secret,” Browne said.
The prime minister said an agreement was eventually signed, but emphasized that it preserves Antigua and Barbuda’s authority to decide who is accepted and requires intelligence sharing from U.S. authorities.
“We signed an agreement which gives us the authority, not that we accept whomever, and that the United States will provide intelligence,” Browne said.
Browne said the government’s approach reflects cooperation without compromising national security or sovereignty.
“We continue to operate a government based on sound governance,” he said.
