Pecohub The administration of Donald Trump spent more than $40 million deporting roughly 300 migrants to countries with which they had no connection.
This is according to a statement contained in a report released Friday by Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The findings detail the financial and policy implications of a controversial deportation strategy that relocates non-citizens to third countries when their home nations refuse repatriation.
According to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Democrats, the deportations cost an average of about $133,333 per person.
In Rwanda, which received seven deportees, the total cost reached approximately $1.1 million per person.
The report said the policy involved sending migrants to remote countries to ensure removals when repatriation to their home nations proved difficult.
- Destinations such as Palau and Eswatini were reportedly selected to signal that migrants could be relocated to distant locations far from their home countries.
- The bulk of the funds, about $32 million, went to five countries: Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, El Salvador, Palau and Eswatini. According to the report, payments were made directly to foreign governments without third-party oversight, and the State Department does not use external auditors to track how the funds are spent.
- Equatorial Guinea alone received $7.5 million, more than the total US foreign assistance provided to the country over the previous eight years combined.
The policy of deporting migrants to countries other than their own gained traction after Donald Trump returned to office in 2025 and intensified immigration enforcement efforts.
- The administration argued that some migrants could not be returned to their home countries because those governments refused repatriation, lacked diplomatic cooperation, or posed security and legal barriers. Under U.S. immigration law, removal to a third country is permitted when returning a person to their country of origin is deemed impracticable or unsafe.
- In early 2025, the Department of Homeland Security began reviewing cases of migrants who could not be deported home, exploring agreements with other nations willing to receive them.
- The policy accelerated following a June 2025 Supreme Court decision allowing expedited deportations to third countries with limited notice, strengthening the administration’s legal footing.
