According to Bloomberg, Trump asked Balkan countries to accept deportees from the US.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump urged Serbia and other Balkan countries to accept migrants deported from the United States, according to Bloomberg on Thursday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

This initiative is part of a broader Trump administration strategy to find countries willing to receive immigrants who would be expelled following changes in U.S. immigration policies.

The report states that U.S. officials have held talks with governments in the Balkan region to explore the possibility of these nations becoming destinations for deported migrants, particularly those from countries such as Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua.

These efforts reportedly intensified after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to revoke Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of people from those countries.

The Supreme Court's decision represented a significant victory for the Trump administration in its goal to restrict illegal immigration, one of the pillars of its political agenda.

The court ruling removed a major barrier that prevented the deportation of certain migrant groups, so the government stepped up its efforts to secure international agreements that would facilitate their repatriation.

This leaves the degree of progress in the talks uncertain and whether any Balkan country has already officially agreed to receive deported migrants from the United States.

This effort by the Trump administration illustrates how current U.S. immigration policy seeks to address a problem inherited from the Democratic administration of Biden, seeking third-country cooperation in receiving these undocumented migrants, many of whom come from the aforementioned territories.

One recent example was the agreement signed by the current U.S. government with its counterpart in El Salvador, where Bukele's government committed to taking in deported migrants.

Although the future of this strategy has yet to materialize, its diplomatic and commercial implications could be significant for the Balkan region because a collaborative environment could mean a major improvement in relations with the United States in these areas.

 

Neither the White House, nor the U.S. State Department, nor Serbia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately replied to requests for comment from Reuters.