WASHINGTON — The tiny Pacific nation of Palau — has agreed to take up to 75 third-country deportees from the United States who don’t have a criminal record — in exchange for a $7.5 million grant to support the roughly 18,000-person island chain.

The $100,000 per-deportee fee, announced on Christmas Eve by Palau’s President Surangel Whipps Jr. and the US embassy in Koror, introduces one of the most favorable venues yet for deportees if their recalcitrant homelands — such as China, Cuba, Russia, or Iran — won’t take them.

In addition to the new $7.5 million grant, the Trump administration agreed to provide $6 million “to prevent collapse of [Palau’s] civil service pension plan system” and $2 million for “new law enforcement initiatives.”

Africa is the continent most affected by the removals, with ambassadors from 13 countries being removed: Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia and Uganda.

Second is Asia, with ambassadorial changes coming to six countries: Fiji, Laos, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Vietnam affected.

Ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president although they typically remain at their posts for three to four years. Those affected by the shake-up are not losing their foreign service jobs but will be returning to Washington for other assignments should they wish to take them, the officials said.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry confirmed on Friday that South Koreans were among those in custody, without saying how many.

Just over a week earlier, Mr. Trump hosted President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea at the White House, where the South Korean leader pledged to invest an additional $150 billion in the United States, including in battery manufacturing.

When asked on Friday whether he was concerned about his immigration agenda clashing with economic goals, Mr. Trump said that ICE was just doing its job.

The episode prompted diplomatic concern in Seoul.

"It has been painful to watch one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years," Rowe said in a statement.

The group — which includes families with children — was greeted at the D.C.-area airport by U.S. officials, including Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Troy Edgar. Landau told reporters the group has faced "egregious discrimination" in South Africa — which the country's government has denied.

Donald Trump looms large over Saturday's election. As with Canada's election, wannabe Trump opposition Leader and Liberal Party Peter Dutton was trashed in a landslide, losing his parliamentary seat. The coalition is on track to suffer the biggest election loss in decades. Labor Party Prime Minister Anthony Albanese won his second term. The latest left-leaning leader to achieve a comeback victory as President Trump roils global markets and upends international affairs.

“Our government will choose the Australian way, because we are proud of who we are,” Albanese told a cheering crowd at Labor headquarters. “We do not need to beg or borrow or copy from anywhere else.”

Theo Edwards for YAME Digital from the Australia Capital Territory, ACT, Australia