US carries out the first deportation of a migrant to Palau, under an agreement between the two countries

For the first time, US authorities have sent a deported migrant to Palau, the island nation in the Pacific Ocean, in implementation of a bilateral agreement on accepting citizens from third countries.

The government of Palau confirmed the development, clarifying that the person had arrived at the end of May.

A statement from Palau’s presidency said: “We welcomed the first one at the airport, transported him to his temporary residence and helped him settle in, including connecting his phone.”

Under the administration of President Donald Trump, the United States has increased the pace of deportations of undocumented migrants and asylum seekers, transferring them to third countries such as Uganda, El Salvador, Rwanda and now Palau as well, regardless of their nationality.

The agreement between Washington and Palau was signed in December 2025 and stipulates that the island state can receive up to 75 third-country nationals deported by the US.

Under the terms of this agreement, those transferred will not be people accused of criminal offenses and will have the right to live and work in Palau, practicing professions or carrying out functions considered beneficial to the country.

Palau ranks among the countries with the smallest populations in the world, with approximately 20,000 inhabitants spread across hundreds of volcanic islands and coral atolls, about 800 kilometers east of the Philippines.

Although it gained independence in 1994, Palau continues to maintain close ties with the United States. Under an agreement between the two sides, the US military has the right to use the archipelago’s territory, while Washington provides hundreds of millions of dollars in financial assistance and guarantees its national defense.