WASHINGTON, United States — The Trump administration has deported at least 25,447 migrants to countries where they have no ties, according to an international investigation published Monday.
The findings, released on Monday, September 21, 2026, described agreements with 35 countries and $410 million in planned payments to governments and United Nations agencies involved in receiving or returning migrants.
Forbidden Stories, which conducted the investigation with a consortium of journalists, said the deportations were recorded between President Donald Trump’s return to office in January 2025 and the end of August 2026.
The administration has used the arrangements for people who cannot legally be returned to their countries of origin, the report found.
About 20,000 of the migrants were sent to Mexico.
The remainder went to 27 countries in Latin America, Africa, and the Pacific, while agreements had been completed with seven additional countries.
The terms differ from one agreement to another. Some limit the nationalities that may be transferred, while others allow receiving countries to accept deportees with criminal records.
Payments Accompany the Agreements
Internal State Department records reviewed by Forbidden Stories showed that $81 million of the planned $410 million had been designated for governments that signed the agreements.
Palau, a Pacific island country with fewer than 18,000 residents, agreed in December 2025 to receive as many as 75 people from third countries in exchange for $7.5 million.
At the time of the investigation, three migrants had been transferred under the arrangement.
Eswatini reached an agreement valued at more than $5 million that allowed for the arrival of up to 160 deportees.
Thirty-two people had been sent there since July 2025, including migrants with criminal records, the investigation found.
The agreements form part of an effort begun after Trump returned to the White House.
Washington has sought governments willing to receive migrants whom the United States cannot legally return to their countries of origin.
An earlier investigation by Agence France-Presse found that the administration had used visa bans and restrictions to pressure African governments to accept deportees.
Lawyers interviewed by the news agency said some migrants were being placed in a “legal black hole”, detained without charge in countries where they had few rights and no established connections.
African Governments Were Widely Approached
Forbidden Stories said United States officials had approached 49 of Africa’s 54 countries about receiving migrants from elsewhere.
Much of that work has been managed by the Office of Remigration, a State Department unit established in May 2025.
Christian Jove Ehrhardt, a 41-year-old diplomat, leads the office and previously served as a security officer.
The investigation traced Ehrhardt’s visits to Cameroon, which signed a memorandum of understanding with Washington in December to accept deportees.
One week later, the two countries also concluded a five-year health-assistance programme worth nearly $400 million.
The State Department announced a further $30 million for the United Nations Refugee Agency, or UNHCR, in Cameroon the following month.
It said the money would “facilitate the voluntary return of refugees and combat illegal immigration.”
The first aircraft carrying deportees under the Cameroon arrangement arrived on January 14.
United Nations Agencies Receive Most of the Funds
Most of the $410 million was not designated for direct payments to governments. More than $178 million was planned for the United Nations’ International Organisation for Migration, while $123 million was allocated to UNHCR, according to the State Department records.
The involvement of the agencies has drawn criticism because some migrants have been sent to countries where they have few rights and no established ties.
UNHCR told Forbidden Stories that it was not a party to the bilateral agreements between Washington and receiving governments.
The agency said United States funding was being used in accordance with its mandate to strengthen asylum systems.
The International Organisation for Migration said its decisions about whether to accept funding rested “on a single question: whether our engagement will improve the lives of the migrants affected. In these instances, we believe strongly it does.”
The investigation found that the agreements could leave migrants subject to sharply different rules depending on the country receiving them.
Those differences include whether they may be detained, which nationalities will be accepted, and whether people with criminal histories are eligible for transfer.
The State Department records reviewed by the journalists showed the financial scale of a deportation system extending across several regions.
They also indicated that most of its planned funding would pass through international agencies rather than directly to the governments signing the agreements.
