Yeah, nothing says "free" like forced confinement on a remote island.

Palau will never see a dime of that money. So its President is willing to turn his country into a penal colony for a phony promise by Trump.

I did a search.

My opinion: He's paying them with the money that would have gone to cover insurance subsidies under ACA. Yes, that is where our tax money is going instead of to the needs of our fellow citizens.

I'm sure they found some money from screwing Americans out of healthcare subsidies, food assistance, education assistance, and other social programs.

Madigascar. How enlightened of them!

If sanity ever is regained here in Murika, we'd better sure as hell have some CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY trials. Because these Nazi fucks in Trump's administration and the GOP, and now the new SS-ICE, are in fact committing crimes agains humanity.

And what about the fucking Epstein files? When the hell are we going to get some justice for all these children whose lives have been ruined by these billionaire fucks?

These are people you wouldn't even let in your house because they would steal whatever is not nailed down and commit horrible crimes against the kids and grandkids. We're going to have to FUMIGATE the White House after these pieces of excrement are kicked out.

That will probably never happen because like clockwork, each GOP regime manages to cause some kind of economic calamity so bad that the incoming Democratic administration has to spend all of their time and resources on fixing that, and when that is FINALLY resolved, it's time for the next election.

start suffering fairly soon in a more general sense. So far it has been the construction sector, hospitality, agriculture and manufacturing, but we're about to see a big AI bust that will be affecting many white collar erstwhile Republican voters and they will sour on the whole Chicago school trickle down thing...well, at least one might hope.

As an economist, I have spent decades touting policies that will strengthen the middle class and have seen them all go by the wayside because of these greedy Wall Street lizards and the billionaire parasites.

have spent decades trying to get "cheap labor". And that lead to "outsourcing" and eventually "offshoring", while using all sorts of Visa tricks to bring in immigrant labor in order to continue to do things that avoided a union's push for fair wages.

But now with the spigot closed for foreign labor, the next step for them was obviously "fake labor" (AI). Basically a high "upfront" cost but then "free" after that once deployed. Or so they fantasize.

Can we say 'slave labor'?

So he’s sending people who have no crime except lacking papers to a remote island, far from family and all they know. With limited ability to get to another country where they have more connections.

is Peleliu where a rather bloody battle was fought by U.S. forces against the Japanese in 1944. A former acquaintance of mine and his father went there some 35 odd years ago and did a bit of exploring. They came back home with a number of bones they found in caves. The acquaintance was rather proud of himself and liked to show off some of said bones to others, me included. They were of Japanese war dead. Like I said, former acquaintance.

That said, none of that reflects on the people of Palau. They were victims of that war too. Sending "deportees" there is likely safer than some of the other destinations that have been mentioned, but talk about sending these people to literally the middle of nowhere? No due process, nowhere or way to challenge their deportation? No reasonable access to family? Are we the 18th/19th century British monarchy deporting the "undesirables" to Australia now? What the ever-loving hell?

...human trafficking to anyone else?

to set up another Epstein's Island when he is run out of the country/???????????

I should’ve stayed asleep. It was really early in the morning here and I was very mistaken.

The only reason I know about this place is decades ago one of my longtime friend's friend became a hotel manager there.

That doesn't seem very efficient.

7.5 mil /75=.1 mil

I must have misread it.

This is far, far away from U.S. District Courts, where any irresponsibility could be assessed on the merits.

It's the modern equivalent of marooning them on a desert island for life, with zero chance of oversight.

A “memo of understanding”?

Is that another term for a Treaty?

I also question the legality of "Deals". Is that a legally binding thing in American law?

So many things being rebranded. Zero authority overreach.

In the fed world, we abbreviated (and "sounded it out" as ) "MOU".

It basically is an "agreement" between 2 entities (could be between 2 states or between a state agency and a federal agency, etc), where the 2 will define some kind of partnership between them, will designate what roles each party will play, and what processes and/or procedures will be necessary for both sides to agree to and follow, to enact the MOU.

It basically formalizes what would be roles that were originally done independently and will now be shared, with expectations spelled out for what each side would be responsible for. But it is not a treaty nor a formal business contract (both of those being legally binding).

Not sure why you've twice posted that Palau has been added to the travel ban when its not true.

Here is the order that added Tonga, among other countries, to the restricted travel list. You will not find any mention of Palau.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/12/restricting-and-limiting-the-entry-of-foreign-nationals-to-protect-the-security-of-the-united-states/

Thank you

but no money available for universal healthcare.

no money to even extend ACA subsidies.