Senate Report Details $40 Million Third-Country Deportation Program
The Trump administration spent over $40 million to deport migrants to third-party nations, according to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee report criticizing the program's cost and waste.
A report from Democratic staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations reveals that the Trump administration spent over $40 million through January 2026 to deport approximately 300 migrants to third-party nations where they had no citizenship or native ties. The program involved lump-sum payments totaling more than $32 million to Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, El Salvador, Eswatini, and Palau. In Rwanda, costs averaged $1.1 million per person, while Palau received $7.5 million without accepting any migrants.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen characterized the policy as the epitome of fraud, waste, and abuse, noting that 80 percent of deportees eventually returned to their home countries, often through additional U.S.-funded flights. The report further alleges the administration used the program as a scare tactic to pressure migrants into dropping asylum claims and cited a case where 200 Venezuelan men were sent to an El Salvadoran prison despite court orders.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the State Department defended the practice as a necessary tool to remove gang members and enforce immigration laws. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson stated the administration is executing the largest mass deportation campaign of criminal illegal aliens in history. Internal documents indicate 47 third-country agreements are currently at various stages of negotiation.
