Washington has begun deporting the first migrants to the Palau archipelago, authorities in the sparsely populated island nation announced Wednesday.

Palau has welcomed its first migrant deported from the United States, out of a planned group of up to 75, authorities in the sparsely populated Pacific island nation announced Wednesday. "We received our first individual at the airport in late May, took him to his temporary residence, and helped him connect his phone and get settled," the Palauan president's office said in a statement to AFP.

Under the presidency of Donald Trump, the United States intensified its efforts to expel undocumented migrants and asylum seekers, proposing to resettle them in countries such as Uganda, El Salvador, and Rwanda.

With some 20,000 inhabitants spread across hundreds of volcanic islands and coral atolls about 800 kilometers east of the Philippines, Palau is one of the smallest countries in the world in terms of population.

"Free association"

According to a memorandum of understanding announced last December, the Pacific island nation will allow up to 75 third-country nationals from the United States to live and work within its borders. The migrants, who must be free of any criminal charges, will hold positions of value to the Pacific nation, the two parties explained.

Palau gained its independence in 1994, but allows the US military to use its territory under an old "free association" agreement.

In return, the United States provides them with hundreds of millions of dollars in budgetary support and assumes responsibility for their national defense.