USA21 September, 20263 min read
Trump Administration Authorizes $410 Million For Third-Country Deportations With 31 Countries
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$410 million authorized to facilitate third-country deportation agreements with 31 countries. More than 25,000 migrants have been deported to non-origin countries since 2025.
5 outlets told this the same way.
Third-country deportations expand
The Trump administration has authorized or pledged at least $410 million to facilitate agreements with 31 countries for third-country deportations, according to internal government records reviewed by The Washington Post. The Office of Remigration, a new division of the Department of State created in 2025, negotiates most agreements and has planned to spend at least $410 million in payments to governments and humanitarian organizations as part of the deportation deals, according to internal documents described by Forbidden Stories. Christian Ehrhardt, a 41-year-old diplomat and head of the Office of Remigration, traveled to Cameroon in November 2025 and met Felix Mbayu, Cameroon’s foreign relations minister, as the trip aimed to negotiate a deal to allow the U.S. to deport people with no ties to Cameroon.
The U.S. approved a five-year health assistance scheme in Cameroon worth nearly $400 million on December 16, and the Department of State said it would contribute $30 million to UNHCR in Cameroon to facilitate “the voluntary return of refugees and combat illegal immigration,” according to the embassy posts described by Forbidden Stories. The first plane of people arrived from the U.S. in Cameroon on January 14, after the memorandum of understanding on the topic was finalized on December 16, according to Forbidden Stories.
Due process ruling and violence
A unanimous three-judge panel of the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals imposed due process requirements on the Trump administration before it deports people to countries not their own and to which they have no prior ties, according to Talking Points Memo. The appeals court ruling requires the administration to give deportees “a meaningful opportunity” to raise fears of persecution or torture in the third country, and it rejected the administration’s position that a blanket assurance from the third country was sufficient protection, according to Talking Points Memo. ICE agent Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a Venezuelan national, was shot during a traffic stop in Austin, Texas, and DHS confirmed late Sunday that he was in ICE custody, according to Talking Points Memo.
Evanston police said they were investigating an incident in which a U.S. citizen suffered injuries to his head, neck, and teeth while being briefly detained by ICE in Evanston, Illinois, according to Talking Points Memo. Talking Points Memo also reported that four people were killed Saturday in a U.S. strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean Sea, bringing the overall death toll to at least 231 people.
Targets, payments, and secrecy
The Guardian described the Trump administration’s third-country deportation arrangements as “a show of force” intended to make people fear the consequences of entering the US without permission, and it said the administration struck 35 deals allowing deportations to countries that are not their own. The Guardian reported that the U.S. has pledged at least $410m (£307m) to secure such agreements with 35 countries, and it said the drive is being led by the White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and run out of the Office of Remigration. Forbidden Stories said the mechanics of third country removals are “couched in layers of administrative, diplomatic, and financial secrecy,” and it reported that as of August 31, 2026, at least 25,447 such people had been sent across 28 countries.
Forbidden Stories also said a U.S. federal appeals court ruled to halt these removals, and it reported that journalists investigating the practices face obstruction and legal pressures, including that 32 journalists were arrested last year in the U.S. The Washington Post reported that Christian Ehrhardt is “considered a White House envoy” when he meets with foreign leaders, and it said the Office of Remigration is a division of about 15 employees at the State Department.