President Donald Trump’s administration is pushing Serbia and other Balkan nations to take in migrants deported from the US, according to people familiar with the matter.
The requests to countries in the region are ongoing and part of a broader strategy to find foreign governments willing to receive migrants sent from the US, including some who originally entered under Biden-era protections, according to the people, who requested anonymity because the talks were private.
Regional bureaus from the US Department of State were tasked with pitching the idea, one of the people said. It is not clear if any agreements were struck as a result of the talks.
The White House declined to comment. The State Department didn’t immediately comment. Serbia’s Foreign Ministry also didn’t respond when approached on Wednesday.
In May, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to strip temporary legal status from as many as half a million people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. The administration has been looking for possible destinations for immigrants from those places who could be deported as a result, one of the people said.
The Wall Street Journal reported in April that the US had explored arrangements to send deportees elsewhere in the Balkans, including Moldova and Kosovo, and other locations around the world.
But Serbia, which has not previously been reported as a potential destination for US deportees, is notable to the Trump family for a separate reason.
Its capital is the site for a forthcoming Trump Tower Belgrade, planned by an investment firm co-founded by Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law. The Trump Organization struck a deal to license its brand for the project. Trump handed control of the Trump Organization to Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., his two eldest sons. Trump Jr. also oversees his father’s assets in a trust.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who has played a balancing act between East and West throughout his rule, is an avid fan of Trump. He has cultivated ties with the MAGA world when Trump was out of power and was among the first to congratulate Trump on his victory, in a call dropped in on by Elon Musk.
Trump’s eldest son has visited Serbia repeatedly and his special envoy, Richard Grenell, was awarded Serbia’s highest civilian honor.
In his latest visit in late April, Trump Jr. dined with Vucic while on a tour of Eastern European capitals aimed at identifying business opportunities in his capacity as executive vice president of the Trump Organization.
In May, Vucic had hoped for a sit-down with Trump in Florida but fell ill during the US trip and had to cut it short. Days later, he attended the May 9 Victory Day parade in Moscow despite warnings from European Union officials.
Arrangements to accept deported migrants are not without precedent in the region. A similar deal was made between Italy and Albania after Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni persuaded the Balkan nation to host migrant centers for people intercepted while trying to cross by sea from Africa to Europe. Italy pays for the cost of centers. However, the arrangement has hit practical snags and its own battles in the Italian courts.
These latest conversations with Balkan countries are taking place as the US crackdown on immigration has been challenged in courts. More than 200 migrants, mostly Venezuelan, were deported to prison in El Salvador.
In the process the Trump administration invoked a law previously used only during wartime, that allows the president to bypass federal immigration rules to send away “alien enemies” in cases where a foreign nation has threatened an “invasion or predatory incursion.”
With assistance from Misha Savic.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
