OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
7:47 AM – Saturday, December 27, 2025
Palau has made a deal to accept 75 deportees from the United States in exchange for $7.5 million in foreign aid and other benefits.
U.S. Ambassador to Palau Joel Ehrendreich and Palau’s Minister of State, Gustav Aitaro, held a signing ceremony on Wednesday to ink the deal.
The agreement, announced on Wednesday, will allow “third-country nationals” who have been charged with crimes to live and work in Palau, helping address local labor shortages in needed occupations,” according to a statement from Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr.
Whipps said that he would “agree on a case-by-case basis as to the individuals who will be arriving in Palau under the arrangement,” meaning that the country would screen each arrival.
The U.S. Embassy in Koror, Palau’s capital, issued a statement confirming details of the agreement.
“The United States deeply appreciates Palau’s cooperation in enforcing U.S. immigration laws, which remains a top priority for the Trump Administration. In this regard, the United States granted $7.5 million to address the needs of relevant Palau public services,” the U.S. embassy stated.
In addition to the $7.5 million for “public service and infrastructure,” the agreement calls for funding for other initiatives. The trump administration approved $6 million to “prevent collapse of [Palau’s] civil service pension plan system” and $2 million for “new law enforcement initiatives.”
There is also a $100,000 fee per deported immigrant, according to Whipps.
Palau was already owed $889 million in U.S. aid over 20 years under an arrangement with the Biden administration that went into effect last year to support the country’s “education, health, environment, administration of justice, public safety, and audits.”
Palau is an archipelago smaller than Rhode Island located in the western Pacific Ocean, a two-hour flight from Guam. The U.S. conquered the islands from the rule of Japan in 1944. The country is only home to about 18,000 people, as of 2024, and its industries include tourism and fishing.
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