(l-r) US Secretary Kristi Noem; Minister of Foreign Affairs Hon Francis Fonseca
By William Ysaguirre (Freelance Writer)
BELIZE CITY, Mon. July 28, 2025
The United States would like Belize to become a “safe third country” to receive foreign nationals who seek asylum once they enter the U.S. legally or undocumented, and for such migrants to reside in Belize while the U.S evaluates their application for political asylum.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not suggest the idea to Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade, Culture, and Immigration, Hon. Francis Fonseca, when he visited Washington D.C. last Tuesday. In fact, Rubio did not even meet with Fonseca. Instead, it was Secretary Kristi Noem of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security who proposed the idea when Fonseca signed a partnership cooperation agreement with her for the sharing of biometric data with the U.S. to enhance border security and public safety.
Noem also had a draft document ready for the proposed “Safe Third Country” agreement, which she offered to Fonseca to look over, citing that the U.S. has signed similar agreements with many of our Central American neighbors, including Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Guyana.
Minister Fonseca did not reject the proposal. Instead, he accepted the draft documents for the Attorney General’s ministry to review. “When that vetting process is completed, then the matter will be tabled at Cabinet if the Prime Minister so deems appropriate,” he told the Belize media upon his return.
Fonseca declined to say whether he would support such an arrangement with the U.S., cautioning, “Let’s just wait on Cabinet, until Cabinet has a discussion about it.” He denied that the U.S. was trying to force Belize’s hand into signing this agreement to host asylum seekers, though previous U.S. administrations have suggested similar arrangements for Belize to receive Haitian nationals detained while trying to enter the U.S. illegally. Nothing came of those past proposals.
Given the xenophobic policies of the current Trump administration, which vaporized a USD$125 million grant that Belize was to have received from the Millennium Challenge Corporation when Trump put a freeze on all U.S. foreign aid, it could be construed that the U.S. may be taking a carrot and stick approach on this asylum arrangement, though Rubio offered no suggestion of any possible reinstatement of the MCC grant, nor are there any reports indicating that he suggested that the U.S. would waive the tariff increases proposed in April. Fonseca denied that any pressure was being brought to bear on Belize, saying only that, “It’s important to them, but they have been very respectful in the process. So, no, no undue pressure on us.”
He said Belize understands the importance of the matter to the U.S., but it has to go through the process here in Belize. “When we have concluded that process, we’re going to be happy to sit down and discuss it with them,” he said. The U.S. is Belize’s largest trading partner, and “our nations cooperate on many, many important areas of mutual concern, especially security issues. So, I have no concern about that,” Fonseca stated.
