Since January 2025, the Trump administration has secretly deported more than 25,000 people to so‑called “third countries” – nations that are neither their home nor the United States – according to a joint investigation by France 24, The Guardian and other partners. The operation, carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), relied on undisclosed agreements with governments across Africa and Latin America and cost an estimated $410 million, as reported by The Washington Post.
Scale and Mechanics of the Program
The deportations were executed under a rapid‑removal protocol that bypassed standard asylum procedures. France 24 documented that a dedicated team of 26 international journalists spent seven months tracing a web of contracts that allowed ICE to transfer migrants to countries such as Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Panama and other locales where they had no prior ties. The Guardian described the process as “shackling” individuals before placing them on flights to “alien lands” that many did not even know existed.
According to a report by The Washington Post, the administration turned the refugee bureau into a profit‑driven engine, allocating $410 million to fund the logistics of these third‑country removals, including airfare, security personnel and bilateral negotiations that were kept out of public view.
Human Toll and Legal Pushback
Victims of the scheme have reported severe disorientation and abandonment. An Iranian Christian woman, featured by The Washington Post, was flown to Panama after a 18‑month limbo, with officials having “no plan for what came next.” Another case highlighted by The Guardian involved an Iranian woman who, after being shackled on a plane, found herself in a remote African nation she had never heard of. LGBTQ Nation added that a gay man deported to a country unrelated to his origin has since gone silent, fearing persecution.
In Cameroon, survivors recounted living in uncertainty, waiting for local authorities to “crack” their cases, as described by France 24. The lack of coordination with host governments often left deportees without legal status, access to work, or basic services, leading to a humanitarian fallout that human‑rights groups say violates international protection norms.
Legal challenges have begun to stall the program. An appeals court, cited by inkl and bigcountrynewsconnection.com, halted the rapid third‑country removal policy nationwide, citing procedural violations and potential breaches of asylum law. The ruling marks the first major judicial rebuke of the secret deportation network.
"More than 25,000 people have been sent to countries they have never lived in, often without any plan for their future," the investigation team wrote, underscoring the unprecedented scale of the covert operation.
The revelations stem from a coordinated effort by 26 media outlets, including Forbidden Stories, France 24, RFI and The Guardian, under the banner of the “Deportation Project.” The consortium says the investigation exposed a systematic effort to externalize U.S. immigration enforcement, aligning with President Trump’s “America First” rhetoric but raising serious questions about compliance with international law.
Human‑rights organizations, such as Amnesty International and the International Rescue Committee, have called for a full congressional inquiry and for the United Nations to review the United States’ compliance with refugee‑protection obligations. They argue that the secret nature of the deals undermines transparency and accountability, and that the policy effectively shifts the burden of asylum processing onto nations ill‑equipped to handle it.
As the legal battles continue, advocates warn that the damage to the lives of thousands of deportees may be irreversible. The investigation’s authors urge policymakers to halt any further third‑country removals until a transparent framework, with proper safeguards and destination‑country agreements, is established.
