Belize

As of December 5, 2025, the United States has not yet forcibly transferred people to Belize. On October 20, 2025, Belize signed a supposed “Safe Third Country Agreement” with the United States, under which certain asylum seekers in the United States could be transferred to Belize. According to a press release by the government of Belize, Belize retains an absolute veto over transfers, including limits on the nationalities of transferred people, a cap on total admissions (reportedly ten people per year), and broad discretion to deny entry on security grounds. The agreement will take effect only after ratification by Belize’s Senate (which continues to debate the agreement), an amendment to Belize’s Refugee Act, and the establishment of implementing procedures, with an initial two-year term. Either country may terminate the arrangement. Belize’s Foreign Minister has said Belize wants to limit transfers under the agreement to people from the Caribbean and Central America, except Guatemala.

Belize’s asylum system is extremely small, with approximately 2,300 refugees and asylum seekers, mostly from other Central American countries. Belize has limited ability to support newly arrived asylum seekers, illustrated by the fact that, for its 2022 amnesty program, it has approved only about 500 individuals out of the 12,000 applicants, including more than 700 asylum seekers. During the debate over the agreement, one Senator in Belize asked why the agreement was not reciprocal, with the United States taking some of Belize’s asylum seekers. The leader of the opposition political party in Belize cautioned that “Belize’s immigration and asylum departments remain understaffed, underfunded, and ill-equipped to adequately process, monitor, and support asylum seekers.” She condemned the lack of transparency in the negotiations, calling the deal a “decision of profound national consequence” announced without sufficient consultation. 

U.S. law governing “safe third country” agreements provides that asylum seekers cannot be sent to third countries for assessment of their asylum claims unless they would be safe from persecution and have access to full and fair asylum procedures. The agreement between Belize and the United States is expected to face scrutiny as part of the ongoing litigation in U.S. federal court in U.T.  v. Bondi, which challenges the legality of several aspects of “Asylum Cooperative Agreements” (ACAs) purportedly entered into under the safe third country provision of U.S. law. This includes a 2019 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) interim final rule (ratified by DHS in 2025) purporting to authorize the ACAs, DHS guidance implementing the ACAs, and designations finding that countries with which the United States has ACAs provide access to a “full and fair” asylum system. The current and former Trump administrations have repeatedly entered into ACAs with countries that do not meet safe third country requirements. U.T. v. Bondi began as a challenge to ACAs during the first Trump administration as U.T. v. Barr.

Belize’s economy is heavily reliant on foreign trade with the United States, its largest trading partner, but with which it also has a trade imbalance. In September 2024, the United States and Belize signed the Millenium Challenge Compact (MCC), which provides $125 million to improve technical education and modernize the power grid in Belize. During the debate over the agreement, Senators speculated that MCC money was at stake given the shut down of the Millenium Challenge Corporation by the Department of Government Efficiency. Further, in September 2025, President Trump designated Belize a major drug transit or producing country.