Paraguay’s government is expecting a second group of 25 migrants rejected by the United States under the so-called Third Safe Country agreement, but has yet to receive a formal request from Washington, Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez Lezcano said Wednesday.
“We have not yet received the request,” Ramírez Lezcano told reporters at Mburicha Róga, according to ABC Color. The agreement, signed between Paraguay and the US in 2025 and expanded in February 2026, allows the US to send non-Paraguayan migrants intercepted at its border to Paraguay as a transit point before they are returned to their countries of origin.
On April 23, the first group of 16 migrants arrived in Paraguay out of an initial batch of 25. The other nine were rejected because they did not meet Paraguayan immigration requirements, the minister said. All 16 have since left Paraguay voluntarily, with the return process beginning on April 28, according to Migration Director Jorge Kronawetter.
“None of them requested to stay in the country,” Kronawetter said, adding that the International Organization for Migration handled economic assistance during the return process. He also clarified that refugee status is not granted solely for economic reasons.
The agreement has drawn criticism from human rights groups and opposition figures. US Chargé d’Affaires Robert Alter defended the arrangement, telling ABC Color that Washington does not expect Paraguay to grant asylum to the migrants but rather to “share the work” of the logistical task of returning them to their home countries. Alter said the US priority is restoring order on its southern border, and while illegal crossings have dropped significantly, thousands still arrive.
When asked why the US does not return migrants directly to their countries, Alter described the agreement as a “collaboration” on a “huge task.”