Residents Worry that ‘Most Despicable’ Deportees could be Dumped Here Soon in Exchange for Lifting US Visa Restrictions 

Following claims that Antigua and Barbuda is closer to finalizing a “sensible agreement” with the United States to accept its third-country deportees, local residents are asking how the Browne Administration plans to guarantee that no violent criminals will be among the lot.

In a widely shared video clip from a White House interview in April 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained to reporters that the US Administration was working with other countries “to send [them] some of the most despicable human beings…as a favour to us.”

In this regard, Rubio noted that the Trump Administration's obligation is to keep the American people safe from  “perverts and pedophiles and child rapists.”

With that in mind, some residents say they are not optimistic about Prime Minister Gaston Browne’s assurances that Antigua and Barbuda will not accept such offenders among the 14 deportees annually – up from 10 – he is now prepared to consider.

And while Browne claims that  “adequate safeguards” would have to be put in place, residents are asking which entities and what measures, exactly, would be used to screen out these undesirables.

Antiguans and Barbudans are currently ineligible to apply for most classes of US visitor and immigrant visas. With the July 1 review of this status looming, they fear the Browne Administration will yield to US pressures in order to have the visa ban reversed – putting the local population at a different type of risk.

The prime minister has said that deportees to Antigua and Barbuda should bring with them skills that could make them financially independent and contributors to the economy, rather than reliant on public services.   

But this, too, could pose a problem, as unemployment remains a challenge, especially for youth.  And while Prime Minister Browne last week criticized many of them for allegedly being lazy and lacking marketable skills, older residents say that training simply has not been a priority for the Government.   

“They have found it easier to sign work permits for others to come here and pack supermarket shelves,” one local notes bitterly.

That resident, a retired civil servant, also scoffs at Browne’s insistence that the deportees must have valid passports, as he is afraid of getting “stuck with them.”

He refers to Rubio’s declaration that his government wishes the criminal element to be relocated as far as possible from the United States’ borders.

“Look how easy it was for the West Africans to get a boat to take them from here into the Virgin Islands. If 900 of them could slip away into American territory, how hard can it be for 14?” he asks. 

Violent crime is on the rise in Antigua, with chain-snatchings, home invasions, and stabbings making the headlines over the last several weeks.  Therefore, the prospect of importing other, more sophisticated criminals is a daunting one for residents already living in fear.