Belize

MEXICO CITY — The small Central American nation of Belize has signed a “safe third country” agreement with the United States, the two sides said on Monday, as the Trump administration seeks to ramp up deportations and dissuade migration north.

What the agreement entails wasn’t immediately clear, but it comes as President Trump has increasingly pressured countries in Latin America and Africa to help him carry out his immigration agenda.

The deal appears to be similar to one with Paraguay announced by the U.S. State Department in August that included a “safe third country” agreement in which asylum seekers currently in the U.S. could pursue protections in the South American nation.

In Trump’s first term, the U.S. signed several such agreements that would instead have asylum seekers request protections in other nations, like Guatemala, before proceeding north. The policy was criticized as a roundabout way to make it harder for migrants to seek asylum in the U.S. and was later rolled back by the Biden administration.

Earlier this year, Panama and Costa Rica also accepted U.S. flights of hundreds of deportees from Asian countries – without calling the deals “safe third country” agreements – and thrusting the migrants into a sort of international limbo. The U.S. has also signed agreements, such as deportation agreements, with war-torn South Sudan, Eswatini and Rwanda.

The Belize government said in a statement on Monday that it “retains an absolute veto over transfers, with restrictions on nationalities, a cap on transferees, and comprehensive security screenings.”

The government of the largely rural nation wedged between Mexico and Guatemala reiterated its “commitment to international law and humanitarian principles while ensuring strong national safeguards.” No one deemed to be a public safety threat would be allowed to enter the country, it said.

On Monday, the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs thanked Belize in a post on X, calling the agreement “an important milestone in ending illegal immigration, shutting down abuse of our nation’s asylum system, and reinforcing our shared commitment to tackling challenges in our hemisphere together.”

The decision prompted fierce criticism from politicians in Belize, who railed against the agreement, calling it a “decision of profound national consequence” announced with little government transparency. The agreement must be ratified by Belize’s Senate to take effect.

“This agreement, by its very nature, could reshape Belize’s immigration and asylum systems, impose new financial burdens on taxpayers, and raise serious questions about national sovereignty and security,” Tracy Taegar Panton, an opposition leader in Belize’s parliament, wrote on social media.

She noted fierce criticisms of human rights violations resulting from similar policies carried out by both the U.S. and Europe.

“Belize is a compassionate and law-abiding nation. We believe in humanitarian principles. But compassion must never be confused with compliance at any cost. Belize cannot and must not be used as a dumping ground for individuals other countries refuse to accept,” she wrote.

Janetsky writes for the Associated Press.

Lacking confidence as a 14-year-old freshman, Melion Busano entered high school with one thought in mind.

“Just get the four years over with,” he said.

In September 2022, while getting 30 minutes to try out for the basketball team at Eagle Rock High, his confidence was shaken even more.

“They said if we send you a text, you made the team. I never got that text,” he said. “I was in denial. ‘Maybe they forgot me.’ After the third or fourth week, I was [thinking], ‘Maybe they didn’t send that text.’”

Rejection left him adrift, but then came the moment that changed his life. While carrying around a camera for film class, the JV football coach, Vince Vergara, noticed him, pulled him aside and asked, “Hey, do you want to play football?”

He joined the JV team as a sophomore. His mother had refused to let him play football years ago after seeing the 2015 film, “Concussion.” This time, she told him, “Be careful.”

He started from scratch.

“I had to learn on the fly,” he said. “I didn’t know what type of run plays or nothing. Never played youth football, never played flag.”

Last season as a junior, he made varsity and had 211 yards rushing and two touchdowns. This season, as a much improved 5-foot-10, 195-pound senior, he’s become so valuable that coach Andy Moran said he’s the best running back in the City Section, having rushed for 824 yards and 13 touchdowns going into the Northern League title decider against Franklin on Friday.

“He doesn’t go down and everybody has prepared to stop him and hasn’t,” Moran said.

He had 143 yards rushing against Granada Hills Kennedy, 108 yards against Monrovia, 146 yards against Bell, 141 yards against Marquez and 107 yards against L.A. Marshall.

His father was a Marine for 20 years and came here as a teenager from Belize. His mother is from the Philippines.

“Sadly I have not gone to either but would love to go,” he said.

His first name stands for “My Lion.”

“You’re a lion, so you’re fierce,” his father tells him.

With renewed confidence, Busano has discovered a love for football and a belief he can keep getting better with experience.

He even tried out for basketball again and made the team, then decided to focus on football.

His father told him, “Try again, work harder, make yourself a better person.”

It’s all part of the high school experience — experimenting, exploring and dealing with the positives and negatives that happen to everyone in their teenage years. His younger brother also made the football team.

“Now I’m kicking myself why didn’t I do this my freshman year,” Busano said. “Now I appreciate the little things, about discipline, always do your job, don’t do someone else’s job. It’s helped me grow up as a person. I was very ignorant and blind walking into this. I felt I probably won’t be the worst player but probably second string, but I came onto the field and started. It was, ‘Wow.’”

Soon he hopes to visit Belize or Manila to learn more about his parents’ home countries.

“My dad says my grandma has a house where you can wake up and look out the window and the beach is right there,” he said. “I want to visit both.”

He’s a 17-year-old seeing a whole different world and a whole different future with the help of his football experiences.