Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: In a curious twist to this 2025 saga, the Donald Trump administration was reported to have spent more than USD 40 million (Rs 332 crore) to deport around 300 migrants and dump them into the alien lands they had no connection to.
The US paid this money to foreign governments in lump sums Without a system to track how the money was used, according to a report released on Friday last week by Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the media reported on Monday.
These numbers work out at an average cost of about USD 133,333 (Rs 1.11 crore) per person. In Rwanda, which received seven deportees, the total reached roughly USD 1.1 million per head.
The White House defended the policy, saying sending non-citizens to third countries is necessary when their home nations refused to take back undocumented criminals.
Immigration groups challenging the practice in court argue it affects law-abiding non-citizens who risk being sent to unfamiliar countries with little chance to contest the move.
A US official was quoted as saying that the program was intended as an intimidation strategy and a costly deterrent to pressure migrants into dropping asylum claims. Destinations such as Palau and Eswatini were chosen in part to show that migrants could be sent to remote locations far from home.
Five countries–Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, El Salvador, Palau and Eswatini– received a combined USD 32 million. The funds were transferred directly to foreign governments rather than through third-party partners. The State Department is not using outside auditors to track how the money is spent, the report said.
Equatorial Guinea, ranked 172 out of 182 countries in Transparency International’s corruption index, received USD 7.5 million– more than the total American foreign assistance provided to the country over the previous eight years combined. Much of the funding was paid upfront, often before any third-country nationals arrived.
In South Sudan, ranked 181 out of 182 for corruption by Transparency International, the US agreed to send eight third-country nationals. In return, South Sudan asked Washington to consider lifting targeted sanctions on government officials, support the prosecution of the President’s political opposition leader and consider investing in its oil, gas and mineral industries, the report said.
It also detailed arrangements with El Salvador. In addition to cash payments, the administration committed to providing an undisclosed amount of “in-kind and financial support to the Government of El Salvador.” At the request of El Salvador’s President, the US returned several high-profile MS-13 leaders who had been serving as US informants, affecting a long-running federal investigation.
double payments
The report described cases where migrants were sent thousands of miles away.
A Mexican national was flown more than 8,000 miles to South Sudan at an estimated cost of USD 91,000 per person, including housing at a US military base in Djibouti along the way. He was sent back to Mexico weeks later. President Claudia Sheinbaum said her government had not been informed of the deportation.
A Jamaican national was sent to Eswatini at a cost of more than USD 181,000, despite having deportation orders to Jamaica. Weeks later, the US again paid to fly him home. Jamaican officials said they had not refused his return.
As of January 2026, more than 80 percent of migrants deported to third countries had already returned to their country of origin or were in the process of doing so, the report said. In some instances, the US paid to fly migrants to a third country and later paid again to return them home.
diplomacy
Former and current officials in Panama and Costa Rica told the US Committee that their governments felt pressure from Washington to accept third-country nationals. At the time, President Trump had threatened tariffs on Colombia after it initially refused to accept deportees arriving in shackles. Panamanian officials also expressed concern about US interest in seizing the Panama Canal.
Following a memorandum of understanding between Costa Rica and the US, the State Department provided Costa Rica with USD 9.5 million in deportation assistance. State Department officials said Costa Rica’s willingness to collaborate on deportations, including receiving third-country nationals, was a factor in the support.
The report said deportation agreements extended to US adversaries, including Iran, which it described as having one of the worst human rights records in the world.
Indian nationals
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, 55 Indian nationals were deported through Panama, with the commercial leg of their journey facilitated with assistance from the International Organization for Migration.
More than 3,800 Indian nationals were deported from the United States in 2025.
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