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St. Kitts and Nevis signed CARICOM-only third-country deportation MOU with United States

St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Terrance Drew announced January 8, 2026 that his government had entered a Memorandum of Understanding with the United States, dated to December 12, 2025, allowing the transfer of CARICOM nationals — excluding Haitians and anyone with violent or sexual-offense records — who cannot be returned to their own countries. The first group, three people from Jamaica and Belize, was accepted in May 2026.

Jurisdiction
Federal
Location
United States; destination St. Kitts and Nevis (Basseterre)

Abuses documented

Actors

On January 8, 2026, Prime Minister Dr. Terrance Drew announced on his weekly "Roundtable" program that St. Kitts and Nevis had entered a Memorandum of Understanding with the United States — dated to a December 12, 2025 agreement — establishing a framework for the potential transfer to St. Kitts and Nevis of CARICOM member-state nationals the U.S. cannot return to their own countries. Drew said the arrangement excludes Haitian nationals and anyone with a violent or sexual-offense criminal background, that the Federation retains full discretion over which individuals to accept, and that the United States would bear all relocation, housing, and subsistence costs.

St. Kitts and Nevis has not signed the 1967 Refugee Protocol, a gap that specialists have flagged as heightening non-refoulement risk for anyone transferred there under U.S. protection status. The first group under the MOU — three CARICOM nationals from Jamaica and Belize — was accepted in May 2026, according to St. Kitts authorities.

Why we recorded this

St. Kitts and Nevis has not signed the 1967 Refugee Protocol, meaning the international non-refoulement framework that would ordinarily constrain where a protected person can be sent does not formally bind the country receiving them. The U.S. and St. Kitts and Nevis signed a Memorandum of Understanding dated December 12, 2025 to transfer CARICOM nationals the U.S. cannot otherwise remove, without the receiving country carrying the treaty obligations that would normally accompany such a role.

Sources

  1. Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis Announces Bilateral Partnership With the USA on Third Country Nationals — Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis Information Service (SKNIS) primary accessed July 31, 2026
  2. St. Kitts and Nevis — Third Country Deportation Watch investigative accessed July 31, 2026

See also