Leader of the Opposition Jamale Pringle declared Thursday that the government's white paper on receiving third-country nationals (TCNs) from the United States amounts to a "legal trap," citing the country's absence of a stand-alone refugee act as the critical gap the document exposes.
According to Antigua.news, Pringle made the remarks at a United Progressive Party (UPP) town hall meeting held ahead of a special sitting of Parliament scheduled for next week to debate the white paper.
Pringle pointed to language within the document, published July 2, that acknowledges a transferred individual who cannot be deported to their home country or returned to the United States could become "non-removable." Such a scenario, he warned, would leave individuals in indefinite detention or irregular status with no domestic legislation capable of resolving their case.
The opposition leader also raised concerns about transparency, stating that neither the memorandum of understanding signed on December 19, 2025, nor the US-drafted operating procedures referenced in the white paper have been shared with Parliament or the public — despite the government having already submitted counterproposals to Washington.
Pringle argued that withholding these underlying documents risks reducing Tuesday's parliamentary sitting to what he described as political theatre rather than substantive debate, as members would be responding to the government's characterisation of the agreement rather than its actual text.
The UPP intends to publicly press the government to release both the MOU and the US operating procedures before the parliamentary debate proceeds, Pringle said.
