The United States has deported more than 25,000 people to countries with which they have no personal ties, under a network of secretive agreements negotiated by the Trump administration with 35 nations across Africa, Latin America, and the Pacific. The findings, published Monday by Forbidden Stories — a Paris-based investigative journalism consortium — were produced over seven months by 72 journalists from 15 countries working across 25 media outlets, and represent the most comprehensive account to date of Washington's third-country deportation programme.

At least 25,447 people had been sent to third countries by 31 August 2026, according to data compiled by the consortium. The vast majority — around 20,000 — were deported to Mexico, but the remainder were dispersed across 27 other nations, with agreements finalised with seven more countries still pending. The administration has earmarked $410 million to support the scheme, of which internal State Department records show $81 million was to be paid directly to signatory governments. The remainder was allocated to international organisations: more than $178 million to the UN's International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and $123 million to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Both agencies have faced criticism for their involvement, though UNHCR said it was not party to the bilateral agreements and that funding was being used to strengthen asylum systems, while IOM said its participation was conditional on whether engagement would improve migrants' lives.

The deals were brokered largely by a little-known State Department unit called the Office of Remigration, created in May 2025 and staffed by roughly 15 people. The office, headed by diplomat Christian Jove Ehrhardt, used a range of leverage to secure cooperation: cash payments, visa concessions, trade incentives, and development aid. Cameroon, for instance, signed a memorandum of understanding on accepting deportees in December 2025, and within weeks also concluded a five-year US health assistance programme worth nearly $400 million, as well as a $30 million UNHCR grant. Ghana's foreign minister publicly described negotiations in which his government's requests — including visa-restriction relief and trade-deal extensions — were discussed alongside Washington's demand that Accra accept deported migrants. Rwanda received $7.5 million for accepting seven people, a figure that drew sharp criticism from Democratic senators in a February 2026 Senate Foreign Relations Committee report describing a system of "secret cash payments and quiet concessions."

Human rights lawyers warn that the agreements have created a "legal black hole." Deportees are being held in countries where they have no connections, no legal status, and in some cases no recourse. The investigation documents cases including an Iranian woman expelled to the Central African Republic and a gay Ghanaian man returned to his home country under threat to his safety. Forty-nine of Africa's 54 countries were approached about participating. Most agreements were concluded through diplomatic notes rather than formal treaties, allowing governments to bypass parliamentary scrutiny. A Kenyan lawyer with the Global Strategic Litigation Council said the deals were "opaque" and lacked "visibility or transparency." In Cameroon, a source close to the government said the agreement was negotiated personally and secretly by President Paul Biya, with its terms not disclosed even to the broader cabinet.

The scale and structure of the programme mark a significant expansion of US immigration enforcement beyond its own borders, outsourcing the management of undocumented migrants to developing nations often ill-equipped to absorb them. The State Department declined to respond in detail to questions about the negotiations or any quid pro quo arrangements, while defending its deportation policy broadly. The Forbidden Stories investigation will continue to publish testimonies and documents throughout the coming week.