US shells out $35M to deport 300 migrants abroad
A report released Friday reveals that the Trump administration allocated over $35 million to deport approximately 300 migrants to countries with which they had no ties, distributing millions in lump-sum payments to foreign governments without any mechanism to monitor the utilization of those funds. The data provided by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Democrats indicates an average cost of approximately $116,666 for each individual deported. A report revealed that in Rwanda, which received seven deportees, the total cost amounted to approximately $1.1 million per individual. The report details the expenses associated with President Donald Trump’s contentious policy of relocating non-citizens to nations other than their own. The White House contends that this approach is essential for the removal of undocumented criminals whose countries of origin refuse to accept them.
Immigration groups that have challenged the practice in court argue that it has far-reaching consequences for law-abiding non-citizens, who face the risk of being deported to unfamiliar countries with minimal, if any, chance to contest the decision. A US official informed Senate committee staff during a private interview that the program was designed as an intimidation strategy and a costly deterrent intended to pressure migrants into abandoning their asylum claims, as stated in the report. A spokesperson indicated that locations like Palau, a Pacific island nation, and Eswatini, a kingdom in southern Africa, were chosen partly to convey that migrants could be relocated to distant areas far from their origins. A significant portion of the funds was allocated to five nations — Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, El Salvador, Palau, and Eswatini — which together received $32 million. The funds were transferred directly to foreign governments instead of through third-party implementing partners, and the State Department is not employing outside auditors to monitor the expenditure of the money, according to the report’s authors.
Equatorial Guinea, positioned 172 out of 182 nations in Transparency International’s corruption index, has been allocated $7.5 million — surpassing the total American foreign assistance given to the country over the preceding eight years combined, as stated in the report. The report provided specific instances where migrants were relocated to nations distant from their country of origin. A Mexican national, for instance, was transported over 8,000 miles to South Sudan at an estimated cost of $91,000 per person, which included accommodations at a United States military base in Djibouti during the journey. He was returned to Mexico weeks later. According to the report, President Claudia Sheinbaum stated that her government was not informed of the deportation. A Jamaican national was sent to Eswatini at an estimated cost exceeding $181,000, even though there were deportation orders in place for Jamaica. Weeks later, the United States once more covered the cost to transport him back home. Officials from Jamaica stated that they had not denied his return, the authors of the report noted. A representative from the Department of Homeland Security did not provide a comment regarding the report.
Separately, the Trump administration is advancing a $38.3 billion initiative to overhaul the US immigration detention system, in a comprehensive expansion that officials assert will enhance operational efficiency and accelerate deportations. The plan, referred to as the Detention Reengineering Initiative, outlines the acquisition and renovation of eight large-scale detention centers, the addition of 16 processing sites, and the assumption of control over 10 existing “turnkey” facilities currently operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
