The Government’s announcement that Saint Lucia will begin receiving third-country nationals removed from the United States this week has not been well received by the United Workers Party (UWP), which is calling for more transparency and oversight.
Under the deal, up to 80 people may be sent to Saint Lucia over two years, with no more than 10 people transferred every three months.
At a press conference on Tuesday, the UWP’s criticism began with Senator Elisha Norbert, who questioned what guarantees Saint Lucians have about the backgrounds of those being accepted.
“How do we know that the persons being presented to Saint Lucians have no serious criminal history that was recently expunged?” Norbert asked.
UWP members repeatedly pointed to comments made by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in April 2025, when he spoke about the Trump administration’s efforts to find countries willing to accept people being removed from the United States.
“We are working with other countries to say, ‘we want to send you some of the most despicable human beings to your countries. Will you do that as a favour to us?’ … The President [Donald Trump] was elected to keep America safe and get rid of a bunch of perverts, paedophiles and child rapists out of our country,” Rubio said at the time.
The Government of Saint Lucia has maintained that it retains the right to review information on each person proposed for transfer and decide whether to accept or reject the individual.
“These individuals are not criminals. Their circumstances are administrative. They were unable to establish normalcy in their immigration status in the United States and were therefore identified for removal,” Baptiste told reporters at Monday’s Pre-Cabinet press briefing
Nevertheless, UWP Public Relations Officer Lenard Montoute raised the prospect of Saint Lucia being asked to accommodate “dangerous criminals”.
“Are we prepared to handle a potential influx of 80 advanced professional criminals that the United States cannot grapple with? Are we in a position to handle them?” Montoute questioned.
Opposition Leader Allen Chastanet blamed the current administration for the situation, arguing that its handling of relations with the US has led to the position Saint Lucia now finds itself in.
Baptiste, however, gave a different view of Saint Lucia’s relationship with Washington when he spoke to reporters the day before.
While discussing whether the United States would provide the financial support Saint Lucia has requested to implement the programme, the Foreign Minister referred to the US as a “key ally” and spoke of the relationship between the two countries in positive terms.
Given the concerns raised by the UWP and members of the wider public about the backgrounds of people being detained and removed by US immigration authorities, St. Lucia Times reviewed available data on the wider population detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The Cato Institute, a Washington-based libertarian public policy research organisation, reported that as of June 14, 2025, ICE had booked 204,297 people into detention since the start of the 2025 fiscal year. Of those, 65 per cent, or 133,687 people, had no criminal convictions, while more than 93 per cent had never been convicted of a violent offence.
Those figures relate to ICE detainees generally and therefore do not establish the backgrounds of the individuals being transferred to Saint Lucia.
