The U.S. government has authorized or pledged at least $410 million to fly deportees to foreign nations where they have never set foot. According to a sweeping investigation published this week by The Washington Post and Forbidden Stories, the Trump administration struck secret bilateral deals with dozens of countries to offload more than 25,000 migrants.
This is not normal repatriation. Instead of returning individuals to their homelands, federal agencies built an expansive global network designed to transfer non-citizens into third-party nations across Africa and Latin America.
The disclosures reveal how quietly the executive branch redirected public funds to clear people out of domestic facilities. The operation bypassed traditional international norms, treating foreign geography as a logistical release valve.
The Short Version
- The Trump administration pledged or authorized at least $410 million as of late June to pay foreign countries to take U.S. deportees.
- Over 25,000 migrants have been flown to third countries where they hold no citizenship, family ties, or legal history.
- The operation is run by career diplomat Christian Ehrhardt under the direction of senior White House aide Stephen Miller at the newly formed Office of Remigration.
- A coalition of 72 journalists across 24 media outlets exposed the network under “The Deportation Project” coordinated by Forbidden Stories.
How Did the U.S. Spend $410 Million on Third-Country Flights?
The internal financial records uncovered by The Washington Post and Forbidden Stories reveal that the Trump administration authorized or pledged $410 million through June. That money did not fund domestic border infrastructure or court personnel. Instead, it went straight into bilateral arrangements that paid foreign capitals to accept thousands of deportees who hold zero citizenship within their borders.
Under regular diplomatic practice, repatriation is straightforward. If someone faces removal from the United States, immigration officials coordinate with that person’s home country to arrange a flight back to their nation of origin. These standard procedures hit walls when home nations refuse repatriation or lack functioning diplomatic ties with Washington.
Rather than holding deportees or working through U.S. immigration court backlogs and rulings, the administration engineered a cash-for-deportees system. Leaked files demonstrate that the administration circumvented standard diplomatic channels entirely. It negotiated custom financial packages that effectively outsourced long-term migrant custody to secondary and tertiary governments.
Federal records show this financial pipeline moved quietly through bilateral assistance lines and specialized foreign policy allocations. Millions flowed out as diplomatic credits or direct state assistance while foreign partners agreed to clear runways for arriving charter flights.
What Exactly Is the State Department’s Office of Remigration?
The nerve center directing this funding is the Office of Remigration, a specialized unit established inside the State Department in 2025. The division was built to handle foreign negotiations specifically tied to third-country transfers.
White House senior aide Stephen Miller shaped the strategic vision for the operation, pushing aggressive removal policies through executive agencies. To manage daily execution, career security official Christian Ehrhardt was brought in to head the newly formed office.
Ehrhardt’s appointment marked a sharp pivot in how the federal bureaucracy operated. For decades, State Department divisions handled refugee admissions, diplomatic stabilization, and Bilateral diplomatic aid programs in Africa and Latin America. Under the new mandate, institutional machinery was repurposed into negotiating foreign deportee transfers with foreign heads of state.
The office did not focus on routine foreign affairs. Instead, teams led by Ehrhardt drafted confidential accords that promised monetary commitments to countries willing to absorb groups of foreign nationals.
Where Are Migrants Actually Being Flown?
The destinations uncovered by the media coalition are striking in their scope. Flight records confirm that deportees originally from China, Russia, Iran, and Afghanistan have been routed directly to Costa Rica.
In another pipeline, migrants originating from Vietnam, Laos, Cuba, and Jamaica were placed on long-haul transport planes and delivered to Eswatini, a landlocked monarchy in Southern Africa. The individuals had no family connections, legal documentation, or history in the kingdom.
These flight paths are not isolated trials. The investigation found bilateral pacts negotiated across 31 to 35 nations, heavily concentrated in regions of Africa and Latin America. The sheer geographic sprawl transformed what was once an ad-hoc deportation pilot into an ongoing, global logistics grid.
These routes allowed the White House to bypass complex diplomatic standoffs with adversaries. Instead of trying to repatriate nationals back to Beijing, Moscow, or Tehran, planes were chartered to partner countries willing to sign remigration agreements in exchange for American financial backing.
How Many People Have Been Expelled Under These Secret Pacts?
The sheer scale of the operation caught immigration experts off guard. Investigative findings confirm that more than 25,000 deportees have been expelled under these secret pacts to countries where they lack citizenship, legal rights, or residency ties.
The program started rolling out its first flights in 2025, but the tempo escalated sharply this year. In June 2026, State Department envoy Christian Ehrhardt conducted a multi-nation tour across West Africa to pitch third-country deportation deals to regional governments. Following those meetings, the volume of charter flights rose substantially.
For the thousands of people disembarking at foreign air terminals, daily reality becomes an immediate legal crisis. Migrants frequently land in jurisdictions where they do not speak the local language, possess no recognized civil paperwork, and have no lawful route to work or settle.
The Trump administration has authorized or pledged at least $410 million to facilitate agreements with 31 countries, mostly in Africa and Latin America, as of the end of June, according to internal government records reviewed by The Washington Post.
Reports show these individuals often find themselves detained in local staging facilities or left completely adrift without money, housing, or consular representation. Because they are not citizens of the host country, they remain vulnerable to immediate secondary detention or statelessness.
How Did Journalists Crack Open The Deportation Project?
Details about the multi-million-dollar project stayed hidden for over a year due to non-disclosure agreements, executive orders, and opaque budget lines. The truth came to light through “The Deportation Project,” an extensive cross-border investigation coordinated by the Paris-based nonprofit Forbidden Stories.
The collaborative project pooled the resources of 72 journalists working across 24 news outlets worldwide. Teams from The Washington Post, PBS FRONTLINE, and The Guardian spent months piecing together flight logs, confidential diplomatic memos, and government bank transfers.
The reporting carried serious risks. On February 17, 2026, four Cameroonian journalists were detained in Yaoundé while investigating a secret facility holding third-country deportees delivered from the United States. Their detentions triggered immediate alarms across international press networks, accelerating the shared effort to publish the findings simultaneously.
The unified publication on September 21, 2026, pulled back the curtain on the administrative machinery operating within Miller’s policy portfolio, confirming that the flights were part of an orchestrated federal strategy.
What Remains Hidden Behind Administration Redactions?
While the joint reporting confirmed the core architecture of the $410 million pipeline, large segments of the operation remain obscured. The full, itemized roster of all 35 participating countries remains unconfirmed, as does the exact dollar breakdown disbursed to each specific partner.
Significant legal questions also hang over the entire operation. Federal watchdog organizations and civil rights groups have raised challenges regarding how White House officials managed to bypass domestic statutory restrictions and international human rights agreements that govern third-country removals.
While watchdog reports and leaked documents confirm that bilateral deals were executed, the specific contractual payouts negotiated with foreign leaders remain officially shielded by executive redactions. The administration has repeatedly cited diplomatic sensitivity to withhold final paperwork.
Foreign governments that accepted American funds are now facing intense local fallout. As parliaments and citizens discover their borders were opened to foreign deportees in exchange for secret payouts, several allied capitals are already questioning whether those agreements can survive the public light.
Questions People Are Asking
What is the Trump 410 million deportation operation?
It is an initiative run out of the State Department that authorized or pledged $410 million to foreign nations across Africa and Latin America to accept non-citizen U.S. deportees.
What is the State Department’s Office of Remigration?
Created under direction from Stephen Miller and led by career security official Christian Ehrhardt, it is the State Department division created to negotiate third-country deportation accords with foreign governments.
How many people were deported under these deals?
More than 25,000 individuals have been deported to third countries where they hold no citizenship and often have no personal ties, based on investigative findings released in September 2026.
Which countries accepted third-country deportees?
Agreements were arranged with at least 31 to 35 countries. Confirmed routes include flying Asian, Middle Eastern, and Eastern European nationals to Costa Rica, as well as sending Caribbean and Asian deportees to Eswatini.
