WASHINGTON (AP) — A recent Senate Foreign Relations Committee report has unveiled that the Trump administration spent over $40 million to deport about 300 migrants to third countries, as immigration officials pursued a strategy to align with President Donald Trump’s goal of rapidly removing immigrants from the United States.
The report, spearheaded by the committee's Democratic members, including Senator Jeanne Shaheen, criticizes the implementation of a third country deportation policy as costly and poorly executed, calling for extensive scrutiny of a program with questionable oversight.
The State Department has stood by this policy, presenting it as crucial to Trump's overarching agenda to eliminate illegal immigration.
At a Senate hearing last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the measures, emphasizing the necessity of removing gang members and criminals from the U.S.
According to the report's findings, lump-sum payments ranging from $4.7 million to $7.5 million were made to various nations to facilitate the deportation of migrants. Notably, El Salvador received around 250 Venezuelan nationals, while other countries received far fewer deportees.
The report indicates that these selected countries represent only a fraction of the broader deportation strategy. The Trump administration is negotiating numerous third-country agreements, with varying statuses across 47 potential agreements.
Critics argue that the third-country policy could jeopardize the lives of deportees, leaving them in nations notorious for human rights abuses and corruption. A particular case highlighted how Democratic committee staff encountered detainees in South Sudan, held in a guarded house following their deportation.
Moreover, the report outlines instances where the U.S. later incurred additional costs to return deportees to their home countries, questioning the efficiency of this deportation strategy.
As discussions of negotiation with other nations, including some willing to temporarily accept U.S. asylum seekers, heighten, questions remain about the implications these deportation agreements have on international relations and potential political motivations.
Senator Shaheen, alongside her Democratic counterparts, has expressed concerns regarding substantial payments made to foreign governments, raising red flags over the motivations behind these agreements, particularly in the case of Equatorial Guinea’s vice president.
