The Trump administration has likely spent more than $40 million to deport about 300 immigrants to countries other than their own, according to a new report by Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The administration has expanded use of so-called third country deportations as it looks to carry out President Trump’s mass deportation goals.
“Through a growing web of bilateral arrangements, the United States is convincing foreign governments to take in people with no connection to their country, largely through financial payments or pressure,” the Democratic report says. “In some cases, the Administration is sending migrants thousands of miles only for them to later be returned to their home country at additional taxpayer expense. … In practice, third country deportations have produced little measurable benefit while imposing significant financial and diplomatic costs on the United States.”
The report says that the United States has sent at least $32.3 million to five foreign governments in deals to have those countries accept nationals from other countries. It adds that the administration has spent at least $7.2 million on flights to move migrants to 10 or more countries and $307,000 to house deportees on a U.S. military base in Djibouti.
The report also says that, as of last month, more than 80% of migrants sent to third countries that were paid by the United States to take them in have returned to their country of origin or are in the process of doing so.
“Through its third country deportation deals, the Trump Administration is putting millions of taxpayer dollars into the hands of foreign governments, while turning a blind eye to the human costs and potentially undermining our diplomatic relationships,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement. “For an Administration that claims to be reigning in fraud, waste and abuse, this policy is the epitome of all three.”
The Associated Press notes that the State Department, which oversees negotiations for the agreements with third countries, had defended the practice as part of the president’s effort to end illegal immigration.