Trump Administration Spends $40 Million on Third-Country Deportations

The Trump administration spent at least $40 million to deport approximately 300 migrants to third countries, including Rwanda, Ghana, Uganda, and Equatorial Guinea. These secretive deals involved payments to African nations to accept individuals who were not their own citizens, a strategy legal advocates describe as a legal loophole to bypass U.S. laws and international treaties prohibiting the return of people to countries where they face torture or persecution.

One prominent case involved Farah, a 21-year-old gay Moroccan national. Despite a protection order from a U.S. immigration judge ruling that returning her to Morocco would be life-threatening, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement transported her to a detention facility in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Because homosexuality is also illegal in Cameroon, Farah eventually returned to Morocco, where she remains in hiding.

Similar patterns emerged in Equatorial Guinea, which received $7.5 million to host deportees. In Malabo, 29 migrants from nations such as Ethiopia and Nigeria were held in a closed hotel. Critics, including Senator Jeanne Shaheen, highlighted the lack of an asylum policy in Equatorial Guinea, leaving deportees to face indefinite detention or forced return to their home countries.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security defended the program, asserting that the government is applying the law as written and ensuring due process for all removed individuals. The agency denied allegations of misconduct by officers during these operations.