Guyana “calls the shots” in US deportee deal – President Ali

(Kaieteur News) – President Irfaan Ali has defended Guyana’s human rights track record and sovereign authority following criticism over a newly finalised migration cooperation framework that saw the country accept its first cohort of third-country U.S. deportees.

Speaking in an interview with Al Jazeera on Sunday, President Ali rejected assertions that Guyana is compromising its human rights standing or acting as a dumping ground for Washington’s immigration backlogs.

The defence follows the arrival on Friday, September 4th of an initial group of six non-citizen deportees, four originating from Cuba and two from Afghanistan, under a temporary, one-year Assisted Voluntary Return arrangement managed alongside the International Organization for Migration (IOM).