The Trump administration sent more than 100 deportees from Afghanistan, Cuba, Nicaragua and other nations to eight African countries over a 10-day period, expanding its third-country deportation campaign.
The Trump administration has quietly expanded its third-country deportation campaign in a major way. Over a 10-day period, Immigration and Customs Enforcement sent more than 100 deportees from Afghanistan, Cuba, Nicaragua and other nations to eight countries across Africa, according to internal U.S. government documents obtained by CBS News.
The flights mark a significant escalation of the administration's push to remove illegal aliens who cannot or will not return to their home countries. More than 30 countries around the globe have now agreed to receive deportees from the United States, and the administration continues to add new partners to the list.
The government documents show three ICE deportation flights dropped off dozens of men and women expelled from the U.S. in Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Liberia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. None of the deportees were citizens of the countries where they were deported.
In addition to Afghans, Cubans and Nicaraguans, the flights included deportees from Iran, Nepal, Turkey and Venezuela, as well as African detainees who were not sent to their own nations. The previously unreported documents offer a window into an intensifying campaign to use third-country agreements to banish groups of deportees to far-flung nations where they have no ties.
The third-country strategy has expanded well beyond the Western Hemisphere. While some Latin American nations like Costa Rica, Panama and Paraguay have signed on, a growing number of African countries have brokered deals with the administration, including nations like the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan.
Some of the agreements are tailored by region. Countries like Ghana and Sierra Leone, for instance, have reportedly agreed to accept deportees from elsewhere in Africa, while nations such as Eswatini, the Central African Republic and Liberia have received detainees from Latin America, Europe and Asia.
The most recent flight dropped off detainees in Sierra Leone and the Central African Republic, a landlocked country where longstanding armed conflict and the presence of Russian mercenaries have made it one of the most dangerous places on earth. The State Department's highest-level travel advisory warns Americans to avoid the Central African Republic entirely.
Department of Homeland Security officials defended the expanded campaign, pointing out that illegal aliens always have an alternative to third-country removal. "If an illegal alien chooses to file a claim in court refusing to go to their home country, we are required by law to find a safe and secure nation for them to go to," DHS said in a statement. "If an illegal alien chooses to go home, we will give them a free flight home and a $3,000 check. The choice is theirs."
Administration officials have stressed that many deportees sent to third countries had criminal records in addition to immigration violations. Detainees sent to Eswatini and South Sudan included individuals convicted of violent and serious crimes in the U.S., and officials in those countries have imprisoned them upon arrival. Others, however, lacked criminal histories beyond entering the country illegally or overstaying their documents.
The campaign has not been without controversy. Critics point to the case of a 24-year-old Afghan man who was granted withholding of removal by a U.S. immigration judge -- a legal protection barring his return to Afghanistan -- yet was still deported to the Central African Republic. His family helped American forces fight the Taliban, and a retired Marine colonel who testified in his case warned he could be killed if he ever ends up back in Afghanistan.
The administration shows no signs of slowing down. With more than 30 countries now participating in third-country agreements and new partners joining regularly, the campaign is positioned to keep removing illegal aliens who refuse voluntary departure, while continuing to offer the $3,000 incentive and free flights home to those who cooperate.
As the legal fights over deportation policy continue in the courts, the expansion into Africa demonstrates that the administration is willing to go to unprecedented lengths to enforce immigration law and reduce the backlog of removable aliens. More flights are expected in the weeks ahead as additional agreements come online.
The Trump administration sent more than 100 deportees from Afghanistan, Cuba, Nicaragua and other nations to eight African countries over a 10-day period, expanding its third-country deportation campaign.
freedomlinedispatch.com
