Bahamas

The Bahamas was on a short list of countries that the Trump administration’s transition team identified for third country deportation deals. This reflects the long history of U.S.-Bahmanian security and law enforcement collaboration, including on migrant interdiction and detention. The U.S. Coast Guard frequently turns interdicted third country nationals over to the Bahamian authorities. But accepting third country nationals deported from the United States was a step too far for Bahamian Prime Minister Phillip David, who “firmly rejected” the plan proposed by the transition team in December 2024, claiming “the Bahamas simply does not have the resources to accommodate such a request.”

Since then, the Trump administration has repeatedly put pressure on the Bahamas, as well as other Caribbean countries, to accept deported third country nationals. These included pausing immigrant visa issuances to nationals of the Bahamas beginning in January 2026 and, in July 2026, imposing tariffs on Bahamian exports to the United States, its largest trading partner, even as China has increased its investment in health and other projects in the Bahamas. 

Though the Bahamas acceded to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol in 1993, it does not have a national legislation governing refugee status determination. Instead there has been an ad hoc Government refugee status determination procedure in the Bahamas since 2007, and since 2016, standard operating procedures formally established a Refugee Administration Unit within the Department of Immigration. Refugees and asylum-seekers may be detained upon arrival at the Carmichael Detention Centre in Nassau, New Providence.

Despite a Parliamentary Human Rights Committee to promote human rights in national governance in the Bahamas, according to the U.S. Department of State, extensive gender-based violence has been an issue in the nation. Harsh immigration policies directed towards Haitian-Bahamians and Haitian migrants often occur without due process. In May, 2026, media reports indicated that the Bahamas Department of Immigration was deporting Haitian nationals, including women and children, as part of immigration enforcement activity. Removals also included nationals from Jamaica, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Romania, Cuba, Ecuador and Moldova.