10/19/2026
Over the last two years, the Trump administration has struck agreements with at least 35 governments to accepts deportees who are not nationals of those countries. From Mexico to Eswatini to Moldova to Palau, these agreements have expanded the scope of the U.S. immigration enforcement machinery.
The agreements seek to address a tension that has troubled Washington for years: What to do with individuals ordered removed by the courts but who, for a variety of reasons, cannot be returned to their homelands?
Yet key questions remain about how these third-country removals adhere to U.S. legal obligations. The text of some agreements has not been made public, making it impossible to see what standards countries have agreed to uphold. And there is evidence that after removal, some deportees were subsequently pushed onward to treacherous situations.
In our Migration Information Source magazine, Emma Empociello & Greta Garcia Jalil Melendez provide an overview of U.S. use of third-country removals.
