U.S. Spent $44 Million on Agreements to Deport 17,400 Immigrants to Third Countries

The Trump administration has sent more than 17,400 immigrants to at least 21 third countries with which they have no citizenship, family or other ties since taking office, according to a report released by Human Rights First and Refugees International.

Fifteen immigrants from Latin America were deported last month to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Months earlier, 19 men were sent to Eswatini, the continent's only absolute monarchy. Eight others were deported to South Sudan, where conflict has left millions at risk of starvation.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported nearly 300 people to Costa Rica in recent weeks. Hundreds more have been sent to more than a dozen nations including Ghana and Uzbekistan. Deportees often end up in hotels, shelters or prisons in those countries.

The administration has spent more than $44 million on agreements with foreign governments to accept the deportees. It has pledged at least that amount to more than 30 countries. Some agreements are not public, despite requirements under the Case Zablocki Act that texts be disclosed to Congress within 60 days.

Last summer, ICE instructed officials that immigrants can be deported to countries other than their own with as little as six hours' notice or no notice at all. The memo from ICE's acting director Todd Lyons followed a Supreme Court decision that opened the door for such removals.

The vast majority of third-country deportees have been sent to Mexico. The remainder have been spread among 20 other nations. Removals often separate deportees from families with little or no notice. In recent months the administration has increasingly targeted immigrants granted protections by U.S. immigration courts after findings they would likely face persecution or torture in their home countries.

Once sent to a third country, those protections are not guaranteed.

The report states that deportees face a serious risk of chain refoulement, in which third countries deport them onward to the places they originally fled. Researchers found some may feel pressure to return home due to indefinite confinement or fear for their safety.

Specific agreements include a $4.76 million deal with El Salvador under which roughly 250 Venezuelan immigrants, mostly asylum seekers with no criminal record, were sent to a prison there. Rwanda signed a $7.5 million contract allowing up to 250 deportees.

Eswatini agreed to accept up to 160 under a $5.1 million deal. A February report from Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee found that in some cases the administration paid twice for migrants' travel after third countries sent them onward to their home nations.

" >The Trump administration has spent more than $44 million on agreements with foreign governments to accept US deportees who have no ties to those nations, a new report finds. — Human Rights First and Refugees International report The Independent has requested comment from the Department of Homeland Security.

A federal appeals court in March blocked a district judge's order that had required meaningful due process before such deportations.