President Donald Trump’s administration spent more than $40 million and deported about 300 immigrants to unrelated countries.
This is according to a statement included in a report released Friday by Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The findings detail the financial and policy implications of the controversial deportation strategy of relocating non-citizens to third countries if their home countries refuse to repatriate them.
What is written in the report
Deportation costs an average of about $133,333 per person, according to Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
In Rwanda, which hosted seven deportees, the total cost amounted to approximately $1.1 million per person.
The report said the policy included ensuring migrants were sent to remote areas if repatriation to their home countries was difficult.
Destinations such as Palau and Eswatini were reportedly chosen to demonstrate that migrants can move far from their home countries, and the bulk of the funding, around $32 million, went to five countries: Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, El Salvador, Palau and Eswatini. Payments are made directly to foreign governments without third-party oversight, and the State Department does not use external auditors to track how the funds are used, according to the report. Equatorial Guinea alone received $7.5 million, more than all of the U.S. foreign aid provided to the country over the past eight years combined.
back story
The policy of deporting immigrants to countries other than their own has gained momentum since Donald Trump returned to office in 2025 and ramped up immigration enforcement efforts.
The government argued that some migrants could not be returned to their home countries because the government refused to do so, lacked diplomatic cooperation, or erected security and legal barriers. U.S. immigration law allows for deportation to a third country if return to the country of origin is determined to be impracticable or unsafe. In early 2025, the Department of Homeland Security began investigating cases of migrants who could not be deported and began seeking agreements with other countries willing to take them in. The policy was accelerated in response to a June 2025 Supreme Court ruling allowing expedited deportations to third countries with limited notice, strengthening the regime’s legal footing.
Further insights
The report details cases in which migrants were sent thousands of miles from their home countries.
One Mexican national was flown more than 13,000 miles to South Sudan at an estimated cost of $91,000 each, including temporary housing at a U.S. military base in Djibouti. He was deported to Mexico a few weeks later. The Jamaican national was deported to Eswatini at an estimated cost of more than $181,000 despite a deportation order to Jamaica. He has since flown back to his home country, but Jamaican authorities said they have not refused his return. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on the report.
What you need to know
Last month, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced plans to deport at least 79 Nigerians on its “Worst Criminal Registry” as part of a new enforcement effort targeting foreign nationals with serious criminal convictions.
The agency said those identified will be arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and prioritized for deportation under strict deportation policies. In 2025, the U.S. State Department revoked more than 100,000 foreign visas, more than double the number of revocations in 2024. This sharp increase reflects increased scrutiny of immigration documents and compliance with immigration regulations.
