On its Facebook page, Belize’s government said it had reached an agreement with the United States whereby people seeking asylum in the US can be temporarily sent to Belize as a “safe third country” while their applications are considered.

The deal needs approval from the Belize Senate.

In an X post, the US State Department’s bureau of western hemisphere affairs called the agreement “an important milestone in ending illegal immigration, shutting down abuse of our nation’s asylum system, and reinforcing our shared commitment to tackling challenges in our hemisphere together.”

Details of the agreement, including what compensation Belize might be getting in exchange, were not immediately available.

The two-year agreement with Belize was signed by its Foreign Minister Francis Fonseca and Katharine Beamer, the charge d’affaires of the US embassy.

Belize said the concept of a “safe third country” is included in a 1951 internationnal convention which allows a country which denies asylum to someone to send that person to a third country that is considered safe, rather than back home.

President Donald Trump’s aggressive crackdown on undocumented immigrants features deals with sometimes far-flung countries that have agreed to accept people deported from the United States, such those from Rwanda, South Sudan, El Salvador and Uganda.

This year Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Honduras have also taken in third country nationals that were deported by the United States.