Another South American Country Set To Reach Deal With U.S. To Take Hundreds Of Deportees From Third Countries

Ecuador is negotiating a deal with the U.S. to receive hundreds of U.S. deportees from third countries who have refugee status as long as they have not committed crimes and have no health issues, the South American country's foreign minister said.

"It will be a limited program that applies only to refugees of certain nationalities who have no criminal background and who meet certain conditions such as being in good health," Gabriela Sommerfeld said. She didn't give further details on the deal, but it is likely she will elaborate when Secretary of State Marco Rubio visits the country this week. Overall, the country could receive 300 migrants a year, according to AFP.

Several countries in the region have already accepted receiving migrants from the U.S. since the beginning of the Trump administration. In August it struck a deal with Honduras to send deportees from third countries. Concretely, it accepted to receive a few hundred deportees over a two-year period, but it opened the door to taking in more.

The deals follow the signing of a "safe third country" asylum agreement with Paraguay last week and are part of the administration's broader push to remove deportees as quickly as possible.

Overall, at least a dozen countries have already accepted or agreed to accept deportees from third nations so far in the second Trump administration.

The Miami Herald reported in August that more than three in ten migrants deported to third countries are Venezuelan. The outlet scanned through data obtained by the University of California's Deportation Data Project. It showed that Venezuelans make up the largest share of deportees sent to countries where they were neither born nor were citizens.

Overall, close to 3,000 Venezuelans were deported to third countries during the first six months of the year, although the outlet clarified that the dataset is likely incomplete. Over two hundreds were infamously sent to a mega-prison in El Salvador, where many claimed to be subjected to numerous abuses before being released as part of a three-part agreement involving the U.S., Venezuela and the Central American country.

Most have been sent to Spanish-speaking countries including Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador and Spain. However, two were sent to Austria, one to Italy, one to Syria and one to Vanuatu, in the Pacific.

Overall, 7,900 such deportations were recorded by then, with Venezuelans representing 36.71% of the total. They are followed by Guatemalans (20%) and Hondurans (7.8%).