Monthly US Deportations Strain Paraguay’s Sovereignty and Resources, Experts Say

Paraguay has begun receiving deportation flights from the US as part of an agreement allowing for the repatriation of 25 people per month. Experts consulted by Sputnik warned of the difficulties the government of President Santiago Peña would face in setting its own conditions and avoiding logistical and security problems.

The first flight carrying migrants deported by Washington arrived in Paraguay in late April, under a so-called “Safe Third Country” agreement that the Peña administration signed with the US in August 2025. Given that the agreement allows for up to 25 additional migrants to arrive each month, the obligations Paraguay has assumed are beginning to raise concerns in Asunción.

The plane, which landed on April 23 at Silvio Pettirossi Airport in Asunción, carried 16 passengers from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Spain, and the Dominican Republic who had been deported by US immigration authorities. The flight was originally scheduled to carry 25 migrants, but the Paraguayan government objected to the arrival of nine of them for not meeting the requirements established by the National Directorate of Migration.

While the government assures that the migrants will be quickly returned to their countries of origin and that the costs will be covered by the US and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), opposition legislators have questioned the government’s silence regarding the exact content of the memorandum.

“This agreement did not go through Congress and we are unaware of its contents,” said Congressman Cleto Giménez, president of the Migration and Development Commission, according to the local media outlet ABC.

🛬🇵🇾 Envío mensual de deportados desde EEUU coloca a Paraguay en un problema, advierten expertos

🇺🇸 Paraguay comenzó a recibir vuelos de deportados desde EEUU, producto de un acuerdo que contempla el envío de 25 personas al mes. Expertos consultados por Sputnik alertaron sobre… pic.twitter.com/PXmiwEfmH8

— Sputnik Mundo (@SputnikMundo) April 27, 2026

An agreement that raises concerns
In an interview with Sputnik, Paraguayan lawyer and international analyst Héctor Sosa Gennaro stated that his country’s government sought to give the agreement “a memorandum or agreement makeover” to avoid it being considered a “treaty” and thus circumvent its approval in Congress.

The expert noted that the lack of participation of legislators in the process meant that several of the technical aspects surrounding the agreement remain opaque, without being clarified, such as whether deported migrants can request asylum or refuge in Paraguay and what obligations the country would have in that case.

“The IOM is supposed to cover the costs of the stay, but I don’t know to what extent it will. That already implies a more complex process, because there is an intermediary role involved, since Paraguay will have to communicate with the relevant countries to arrange onward travel,” explained Sosa Gennaro.

Indeed, one of the points of contention raised by the Paraguayan opposition is that an extension of the agreement, signed in February 2026, added “Paraguay’s assistance” in returning migrants to their countries of origin. In fact, the Chargé d’Affaires of the US Embassy in Asunción, Robert Alter, told Paraguayan media that Washington expects the Peña administration to “share the work” of ensuring that migrants return to their countries.

Sosa Gennaro stressed that Paraguay’s obligations could be even greater if the deportees request refuge or asylum, which would require Paraguay to “make the corresponding efforts and investigations to determine if they deserve that treatment.”

“This is definitely to solve US problems. So, I don’t see why Paraguay has to get involved in this,” the analyst said.

Also consulted by Sputnik, Paraguayan former diplomat and analyst Luis Fretes Carreras noted that Paraguay has a long tradition of asylum and refugee status, having received several waves of migrants throughout its history. However, he emphasized that this agreement has different implications, as it involves migrants expelled by the United States.

“This agreement was signed within the broader context of military cooperation and the fight against organized crime, so it is associated with military matters. That’s where it gets a little more complex,” he warned.

Fretes Carreras also lamented the Paraguayan government’s “great lack of transparency” regarding the terms of the agreement and its linking of a humanitarian issue like the reception of migrants to US security interests. In that regard, he questioned Paraguay’s “disrespectful stance toward international law” in supporting the US position on attacks against Iran, Gaza, and Lebanon.

Will Paraguay be able to maintain its ban on ‘dangerous’ migrants?
Asunción’s alignment with the US leads analysts to be skeptical about the ability of Paraguay to interfere in the list of deportees.

Regarding the arrival of the first contingent, the president of the National Commission for Stateless Persons and Refugees (CONARE) of Paraguay, Carlos Vera, explained in a press conference that the Peña government demanded that the migrants sent by the US be Spanish-speaking and have no criminal record in the US, nor in their countries of origin.

The official assured that “Paraguay, in the exercise of its sovereignty, retains at all times the power to accept or reject each case individually, after reviewing the corresponding information.”

Paraguay Congress Approves Controversial Military Cooperation Agreement With US

According to Fretes Carreras, the Paraguayan government will have little chance of contradicting Washington in this process. “The US has so much power that the Peña government cannot offer even the slightest resistance,” he asserted.

Sosa Gennaro, meanwhile, appreciated that the Peña administration was able to object to some of the migrants Washington intended to send on the first flight, but acknowledged his doubts about “whether that can be maintained” in the future, given the US interest in removing as many undocumented migrants as possible from its territory. “Paraguay doesn’t know how to say no, especially not to the US,” he added.

The analyst also pointed out that Paraguay may encounter a problem when it comes to making “the control” of migrants sent by the US government “so strict.”

“I don’t think we have the means to more thoroughly monitor every person who is coming. It’s truly impossible: we need a system to control not only common crimes or terrorism, but also to determine who is coming, where they are coming from, what they were doing, and so on,” he explained.

This problem will only worsen if the US maintains its current rate of 25 deportations per month. “By the end of the year, we will easily have one hundred people in Paraguay from different countries, of different backgrounds, among other factors,” he estimated.

 

(Sputnik) by Sergio Pintado

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

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