37,660 people were deported in Trump's first month in office, including both removals and returns, far fewer than the monthly average of 57,000 deportations under Biden in 2024. CBP has reported a drastic decrease in encounters with migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, suggesting that a decrease in border crossings could explain the decrease in deportations. The Trump administration has claimed that around 140,000 people had been deported as of April 2025, though some estimates put the number at roughly half that number. The
Center for Migration Studies called the statement "a self-serving fantasy", describing it as based on a flawed interpretation of population data and that a more realistic number was around 1/10th of claimed self-deportations. The Brookings Institution estimated around 310,000 deported and 210,000 to 405,000 voluntary departures due to enforcement activity.
Third-country removals Under immigration law, the government may deport individuals to third countries only when it is "impracticable, inadvisable, or impossible" to return them either to their home countries or send them to any previously designated alternative countries. In 1994, the United States ratified the
United Nations Convention Against Torture, prohibiting the expulsion of any person to another country where there are "substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture". In February 2025, the DHS directed immigration officers to review all cases of people granted protections against deportation to their home countries to determine if they could be detained and removed to a third country. Soon after, ICE deported
a Guatemalan man to Mexico two days after he said in court that he had been abducted and raped in Mexico. According to Robert K. Goldman at
American University Law School, "What the U.S. is doing runs afoul of the bedrock prohibition in U.S. and international law of
non-refoulement". A report on deportation to "
safe third country" from Senate
Foreign Relations Committee Democrats, published in February 2026, said "in some cases paying more than one million dollars per person". The report "mentioned, several of the governments receiving U.S. funds have well-documented records of corruption, human rights abuses and human trafficking. Without oversight, it is unknown whether U.S. funds are facilitating corruption or other abuses." According to the report, "Countries With Third Country Deportation Agreements or That Have Received Third Country Nationals" include: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Deportation agreements According to documents obtained by
CBS in August 2025,
Honduras and
Uganda signed agreements with the United States to accept deportees from other countries. Honduras agreed to accept up to 200 deportees from other
Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America, including families with children, while Uganda will accept deportees from other African countries, provided they have no criminal records. In April 2026 the
New York Times reported
Stephen Miller and other White House aides were pressuring the US State Department to conclude more deportation agreements with third countries, some of which had been cited by the department for human rights and other violations. Diplomatic cables reveiwed by the Times said countries that accepted migrants deported from the US could improve their relationships with the US and made suggestions for ways to achieve deportation agreements that could include US payments to foreign security forces, eased visa restrictions, reduced tariffs, US funding of foreign public health programs and reconsideration of a country's placement on US watch lists. Citing US diplomatic sources and documents the New York Times reported further agreements had been made or were being discussed with
Sierra Leone, in exchange for a $1.5 million payment to the government; the
Central African Republic, after the US made an $85 million donation to an international migration organization helping that country with its refugee issues; with
Burundi after a pledge of a similar $8 million donation; and with the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) following a $50 million donation to the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). On March 15,
deportation flights operated by
Global Crossing Airlines carrying over 260 immigrants from Venezuela and El Salvador arrived in El Salvador where the immigrants were taken into custody at the
Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT). Neither the US nor Salvadoran governments offered any immediate evidence that those deported had been charged with crimes or had connections to any gangs. A
60 Minutes investigation failed to find any U.S. or foreign criminal charges against 179 of those deported, only finding serious criminal charges against about a dozen. A Cato Institute investigation determined that more than 50 of the Venezuelans deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration had come to the United States legally and broken no immigration laws. US District Judge
James Boasberg ordered that any planes in the air carrying those covered by his order be turned back and those individuals returned to the US. The Trump administration allowed the flights to proceed in spite of his order. On April 8, 2025, the Supreme Court ruled that Judge James Boasberg was without jurisdiction to issue his order, thus the order was a nullity as
coram non judice. On March 28, US District Judge
Brian E. Murphy issued a
temporary restraining order (TRO) prohibiting the DHS from deporting immigrants to a nation other than that covered in immigration proceedings without a "meaningful opportunity" to make a claim under the
UN Convention against Torture. Despite this order, on March 31 the US sent 17 immigrants it alleged without providing evidence to be members of Tren de Aragua and MS-13 on US military planes to El Salvador to be confined at CECOT.
Libya On April 18, 2025, Murphy granted a
preliminary injunction in
D.V.D. v. Department of Homeland Security requiring the government to follow the law by giving written notice before third-country removals and allowing claims under the UN Convention Against Torture. On May 7, 13 Laotian, Vietnamese, and Philippine immigrants learned that they would be deported the same day to
Libya. Murphy prevented the flight with an order clarifying that the flight would violate the injunction. "Reuters found that at least five men threatened with deportation to Libya in May were sent to their home countries weeks later, according to interviews with two of the men, a family member and attorneys."
South Sudan In May 2025, eight men, from Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, and Vietnam, were told by officials that they were being transferred from an ICE facility in Texas to a facility in Louisiana. However, the plane reportedly flown directly to South Sudan instead flew to
Camp Lemonnier in
Djibouti after Murphy ordered that the administration "maintain custody". The men were shackled to a shipping container for multiple weeks before being later deported to South Sudan in July 2025. where they were detained in the Matsapha maximum security correctional complex. Reportedly, all the men, between the ages of 44 and 70, were living in the US after completing sentences for criminal offenses. Ten more US detainees arrived in early October. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) also offered assistance to the deportees. The US Department of State's 2023 human rights report on Eswatini noted credible reports of human rights violations including torture of some detainees. A Cuban detainee went on a
hunger strike to protest his deportation from the US and confinement in Eswatini. Another of the deportees, a Jamaican man who had been allowed to stay legally in the US since 2021 after serving out a prison sentence for murder, was taken into ICE custody while complying with his reporting requirements. He was transferred between detention facilities in New York, Louisiana and Texas and put on and then taken off a flight to Jamaica. The Jamaican government later stated it would have received him and he was in fact returned to Jamaica from Eswatini. an amount Eswatini's finance minister later confirmed in testimony before the nation's parliament. In a statement to the New York Times, DHS said that immigrants to the US who committed crimes should expect to "end up in Terrorism Confinement Center| [Salvadoran detention facility] CECOT, Eswatini, South Sudan, or another third country," while an attorney for two of those detained claimed "the United States is outsourcing their detention ... to purge the United States of immigrants and refugees and to make a spectacle of deportations." The High Court dismissed the case in February 2026, ruling that the groups did not have
legal standing. In March, groups filed a further complaint about the detentions with the
African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights. In March 2026, Eswatini announced it had received a total of 19 migrants under its agreement with the US, a second individual was about to be repatriated and it was working on repatriating those remaining. in return for US$7.5 million. These deportations took place despite concerns about Rwanda's human rights record; the
US Department of State's most recent human rights report for Rwanda noted numerous concerns including arbitrary killings and arrests, torture and degrading treatment.
Ghana On September 5, 2025, the US flew 14 migrants from Alexandria, Louisiana to
Ghana, including at least five from
Nigeria and
The Gambia who had immigration court orders preventing their deportation to their home countries. The detainees were reportedly restrained in
straitjackets for the 16-hour flight and not informed of their destination either before or after their arrival. Ghanaian President
John Dramani Mahama confirmed an agreement with the US to accept deportees on September 10. On September 12, Asian Americans Advancing Justice filed suit on behalf of the five Nigerians and Gambians, four of whom were detained in Dema Camp under substandard conditions. Ghana had sent one former detainee on to The Gambia even though, as a gay man, the US immigration court held he could not be sent there under the provisions of the international Convention Against Torture. In late September eight to ten of these migrants were taken to
Togo where they were left to fend for themselves without identity documents or formal entry. Some of these migrants alleged they had been held in substandard conditions in Ghana and told they would be taken to a hotel before they were expelled. In her decisions on the lawsuit, US District Court Judge
Tanya S. Chutkan called the US government's actions "a very suspicious scheme" intended as "an end run around the United States' obligations" but that despite "the government's cavalier acceptance of Plaintiffs' ultimate transfer to countries where they face torture and persecution" her court did not have jurisdiction to rule on the case. The
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights requested that Ghana refrain from deporting to countries "where there are substantial grounds for believing that they would be in danger of being subjected to torture". In 2025, the US deported more than 30 people to Ghana. Ghana forced out at least 22 of those people despite having court-ordered protection in the US.
Equatorial Guinea On November 10, 2025, US Senator
Jeanne Shaheen sent a letter to Secretary of State
Marco Rubio asking for an explanation for a $7.5 million payment to the government of
Equatorial Guinea in exchange for that nation agreeing to accept US deportees. The letter noted Equatorial Guinea's record of corruption and human rights violations, including several documented in State Department human rights and human trafficking reports. The payment, made from a fund intended for international relief to migrants and refugees, exceeded total US aid to Equatorial Guinea over the past eight years. It followed approaches and meetings between high US government officials and Equatorial Guinean first vice president
Teodoro Nguema Obiang, son and presumed successor of the nation's president. The younger Obiang reportedly received benefits from the US despite his
court settlement there, conviction in France and subjection to international sanctions for corruption.
Uganda In April 2026 a flight carrying 12 US deportees arrived in Uganda. The
Uganda Law Society condemned the flight and said it would file challenges to the deportations in national and regional courts.
Democratic Republic of the Congo On April 17, 2026, the US deported some 15 refugees from Latin America to the DRC under the agreement between the two countries. An attorney in touch with her deported client said the DRC planned to keep the refugees in country for a short time, working with the IOM to arrange "assisted voluntary return" for them to their countries of origin. All those deported were believed to have had legal protection in the US from being sent to those countries. Also in late April some 1,100 Afghan refugees being held at the
As Sayliyah Army Base in Qatar said they were being forced to choose between returning to Afghanistan or being send to the DRC. US officials denied any decisions had been made and called their "voluntary resettlement opportunites" a "positive resolution" for their safety. According to UNHCR estimates the number of displaced people in the DRC could reach 8 million by the end of 2026.
Cameroon Reportedly, "documents obtained by The New York Times (...) reveal how the U.S. government used financial pressure and political incentives to secure a deal that the deportees’ lawyer compared to “selling people.”" Diplomats wrote that the US not saying anything about the
2025 Cameroonian presidential election and the deadly crackdown on the
2025 Cameroonian protests gave the administration leverage in their negotiations on a deportation agreement. The US also withheld $30 million in funds for a UN office in Cameroon until Cameroon agreed to the deal. The Cameroonian government "was initially against the agreement and likened it to “blackmail.”"
Costa Rica In the evening of February 20, 2025, 135 immigrants to the U.S. from Eastern European nations including 65 children arrived in Costa Rica. Five days later another group of 65 migrants including 16 children arrived. Local authorities immediately loaded them onto buses for a six-hour ride to the
Temporary Migrant Care Center near the border with Panama. The center is a former wood products facility that had been extensively remodeled in 2017. The U.S. would reportedly pay for their transportation while the IOM would offer assistance with any onward migration. The office of Costa Rica's independent
ombudsman (Defender of Inhabitants) met and interviewed the immigrants and issued a report detailing problems with their treatment. The ombudsman's office claimed immigrants had arrived in "visible distress" and were unaware of their destination after leaving the U.S.; were not allowed to contact overseas relatives; had their identity documents taken from them; and did not receive proper medical or other services on arrival. Costa Rica's security minister Mario Zamora stated that the immigrants did receive proper care on their arrival to the temporary care center and that the ombudsman's report was based on limited contact with immigrants at the airport, a contention the ombudsman rejected. As of late April, 85 deportees remained in Costa Rica. They were allowed to leave the care center and permitted to remain in the country for three months, after which they were to have accepted voluntary repatriation or obtained legal status. Without some legal status, however, they were not allowed to obtain work. On June 24, 2025, the ruled that the 28 migrants, including 13 minors, remaining at the care center be released; given an appropriate legal status in Costa Rica; have their economic and social needs evaluated and receive services to meet them; and be reimbursed for any damages suffered as a result of their confinement, all within 15 days. Earlier, Costa Rican President
Rodrigo Chaves said his nation was receiving immigrants from the U.S. because it was "helping the economically powerful brother from the north who, if he puts a tax on the free trade zones, will wreck us". On March 23, 2026, Costa Rica signed what it called a "non-binding migration agreement" with the US during a visit from so-called "Shield of the Americas" envoy
Kristi Noem. Costa Rica reportedly agreed to accept up to 25 deportees a week from the US. The deportees would not be from Latin America or countries that would not accept their return. Zamora said they would not have criminal records and would receive assistance "with financial support from the United States" while in Costa Rica. A departing member of the national legislature said the agreement led to "legitimate concerns about the real guarantees of respect for human rights."
Panama Panama agreed to accept US deportees from countries that US cannot deport directly to. These countries include Afghanistan, China, Iran, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan. Once in Panama, they are governed by Panamanian law and are treated as
immigrants. Several have requested to be repatriated to their countries of origin. Panama is currently housing those who do not want to be repatriated in an immigrant camp. It is unclear what their further processing will involve. The Panamanian government initially confined these immigrants in the Decapolis Hotel. Attorneys and journalists were largely unable to contact them. Those immigrants able to communicate with journalists said they were asylum seekers who feared persecution or worse if returned to their countries of origin, though U.S. Department of Homeland Security representatives claimed none had asserted such fears during U.S. processing or custody. Legal representatives for the migrants later stated the majority of those flown to Panama had never been given the opportunity to make an asylum claim through the standard "fear interview" required by US law. The immigrants also stated at least one of their number had attempted suicide, while another suffered injuries attempting to escape from confinement. One of the immigrants, Artemis Ghasemzadeh, a 27-year-old English teacher from Iran, said she had
converted from Islam to Christianity, which is a capital offense in Iran. With a pattern of
persecution of Christians in Iran, Ghasemzadeh feared that she and other
Iranian Christians would face the death penalty if she were to return there and has not agreed to be repatriated. and that she had never been asked about or allowed to make a claim for asylum in the U.S. Matthew Soerens, U.S. Director of Church Mobilization for
World Relief, noted that in 2024, "30,000 of the 100,000 refugees resettled in the U.S. were Christians fleeing persecution." Peyman Malaz, chief operating officer of the PARS Equality Center, noted that "Those who arrive at the border are often the most persecuted and desperate, such as Iranian Christians". On the night of February 18, Panamanian authorities moved some 170 of the immigrants to the San Vicente camp four hours from Panama City, which previously housed people detained after crossing the
Darien Gap. Journalists and attorneys were still unable to contact the immigrants. In the meantime, at least one immigrant, reportedly a woman from China, escaped confinement, while another woman from Ireland voluntarily returned there. As of February 28, 2025, there were 9 additional Iranian Christian converts, including three children, detained in the camp. None have agreed to be repatriated to Iran. In mid-March 2025, Panamanian president Mulino said he did not know if more immigrant flights from the U.S. would arrive in Panama but that he was "not very inclined to do it, because they leave us with the problem". On March 1, lawyers filed suit against Panama before the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) charging that the U.S. violated the group's asylum rights, challenging Panama's authority to detain them and asking for emergency orders that none of the detainees be deported to their countries of origin. A separate suit against DHS was anticipated. On March 8, 2025, Panama released the 112 immigrants from San Vicente, gave them permits to remain in the country for 30 days (renewable for an additional 60 days), and bused them to Panama City. On their release, immigrants reported substandard conditions in the San Vicente camp, including limited access to medical treatment; limited communication with families, legal representatives and journalists; and lack of information about their status and possible onward destinations. Several immigrants with possible claims to asylum said those claims had not been considered and that Panamanian authorities had told them "we do not accept asylum." Immigrants' legal representatives expressed concerns that the move was an attempt by Panama to wash its hands of the individuals the US sent to it and to affect the outcome of the case before the IACHR. Representatives for the migrants stated that as of mid-May 2025 about half had left Panama, mostly for Mexico, while others remained in shelters provided by UNICEF or local churches. Later, the migrants were allowed to remain in Panama until December 2025 but not allowed to work. While some eventually obtained asylum, others continued to face difficulties and they and representatives of charitable organizations complained of governmental indifference and a lack of support.
Bhutan "More than two dozen" refugees or the descendants of refugees who fled
persecution in Bhutan were deported to Bhutan where Bhutan then forced refugees out. Those deported included an individual born in a refugee camp in Nepal who had never lived in Bhutan.
Paraguay On April 23, 2026, the US deported 16 individuals from five South American nations and Spain to Paraguay under a previously agreed "safe third country" agreement. According to Paraguay's migration authorities they were admitted temporarily in order to facilitate their safe return to their countries of origin with the help of the IOM and none had criminal records in their home countries, the US or any other country in which they had resided. A second deportation flight was expected in May.
Use of Guantanamo Bay On January 29, 2025, Trump ordered the preparation of the
Guantanamo Bay detention camp to house tens of thousands of immigrants. Since its opening in 2002, Guantanamo Bay previously held 779 detainees, mostly without charges or trial. Detainees had their legal rights restricted and were subjected to
torture. The detention camp previously cost half a billion dollars per year, making it the most expensive prison in the world. In February, 178 Venezuelan immigrants were being held in the camp, of whom 126 had criminal records. On February 20, a Homeland Security official stated "177 of the 178 migrants at Guantánamo Bay were deported...The one other person was sent to a detention facility in the U.S." The Trump administration has faced difficulties using Guantanamo as an immigrant detention facility. These included lack of planning, cost, uncertainty about whether ICE or the DoD would be responsible for the immigrants, the lack of policy guidance around support for facilities and services for immigrants, and the questionable legality of the transfers. A bipartisan
congressional delegation was scheduled to travel to the camp, but was cancelled by U.S. Secretary of Defense
Pete Hegseth. As of March 3, the population of the camp was around 20, By early April several dozen immigrants "on final orders supposedly to head to their final destination" were being temporarily held at Guantanamo, including Nicaraguans who had been added to a deportation flight originating in Louisiana. In June 2025, after administration efforts to dramatically increase detention of migrants, Politico reported on plans to begin sending thousands of those detained to Guantanamo Bay. Those considered for transfer reportedly included 800 Europeans, some from nations considered to be cooperative in receiving their deported citizens. According to U.S. Senator
Gary Peters, detaining migrants at Guantanamo Bay cost $100,000 per day per detainee. Days later, those plans appeared to have been put on hold and administration spokespeople denied their existence.
Flights The United States cannot unilaterally send deportation flights to other countries; there must be an established agreement with each nation to accept the deportation flights, and they must have diplomatic ties. Some countries, such as China, Cuba, and Venezuela, have largely refused to accept these flights. ICE has historically utilized handcuffs and chains to return deportees, which is stated to be a protection measure; however, since the start of the 2025 deportation flights, multiple countries have raised issues with the use of handcuffs and chains.
Conditions The majority of deportation flights are undertaken by private contractors. A typical flight is staffed with more than a dozen privately contracted security guards, two nurses, an ICE officer, and flight attendants. Flights can carry more than 100 detainees, who are restrained for the duration of the flight. Flight attendants with
Global Crossing Airlines (GlobalX), a contractor for deportation flights, shared concerns with
ProPublica about their experiences on board those flights. Attendants were given no instructions as to how to evacuate restrained passengers in an emergency, and some were informally told to save themselves and other government contractors while abandoning deportees. They also raised concerns over inadequate air conditioning and lavatory facilities, as well as rules prohibiting them from speaking with, making eye contact with or feeding detainees. Leaked GlobalX data reviewed by The Guardian showed more than 1700 flights, mostly between US airports, carried migrants between January and May 2025. In that time GlobalX transported 1000 children, including 500 under the age of 10 and 22 infants. Migrants were moved repeatedly to locations far from their families, communities and legal representatives; not informed of their destinations; and reportedly threatened with long-distance transfers and separation from family if they did not agree to accept voluntary departure. Some 3600 were transferred five or more times including some who had been moved up to 20 times. DHS representatives denied these allegations without providing specifics.
Colombia On January 26, 2025,
Colombian President
Gustavo Petro barred two U.S. military planes carrying deported Colombian nationals from landing in the country, requesting that deportees be "treated with dignity" and sent to Colombia on civilian aircraft. Trump and Petro both threatened the other with tariffs. Later that day, U.S. officials assured Colombian officials that they would not place the deportees in handcuffs nor photograph Colombian citizens aboard the flights after they were returned, and that deportees would be escorted by Department of Homeland Security officials instead of military personnel. The White House then announced that Colombia had agreed to allow the planes to land. Former Colombian president
Iván Duque criticized Petro's initial decision and stated on
X: "It is urgent that the Petro government put the country above its populist prejudices and anti-US rhetoric and quickly establish protocols for receiving deported Colombians."
Ecuador Since 2005, the US has deported thousands of Ecuadorians. In 2023, 18,449 Ecuadorians were deported. In 2024, 13,589 Ecuadorians were deported, according to the Ecuadorian ministry of foreign affairs. From January to March 2025, 1,828 Ecuadorians had been deported so far on 18 flights that travel Thursdays and Tuesdays each week. The usual trip goes from Texas to Guayaquil. As of early February 2025, a Salvadoran government official stated there had been no massive deportations from the US to El Salvador.
Kilmar Armando Abrego García, a Salvadoran with
withholding of removal status in the United States, was mistakenly deported to
El Salvador on March 15, 2025, an action the
Trump administration admitted was an "administrative error" while also accusing him of being a member and leader of the
MS-13 gang. Despite a withholding of removal prohibiting his removal to El Salvador due to the risk of persecution, he was detained by ICE and transferred to the Center for Confinement of Terrorism (
CECOT) in Tecoluca. On April 10, the Supreme Court ordered Trump to facilitate his return to the United States, finding his deportation to El Salvador had been improper. In a whistleblower complaint filed in June 2024, government attorney Erez Reuveni alleged multiple instances of misconduct around these deportations involving senior Trump administration officials. These included misleading and withholding information from the courts, willfully violating injunctions, keeping information and guidance about injunctions from government agencies, instructing him not to inquire or communicate in writing about possible violations of court orders and making arguments and statements known to be false. Reuveni was fired after refusing to sign an appeal brief in Abrego Garcia's case that included assertions and arguments he believed to be untrue.
Guatemala In late January 2025, a Guatemalan governmental official stated that three military flights from the US carrying 265 individuals had arrived in Guatemala. On August 29, 2025, CNN reported the administration planned to return 600 Guatemalan minors who had arrived in the US unaccompanied. The Guatemalan government stated it had reached a bilateral accord with the US, presented by Department of Homeland Security Secretary
Kristi Noem during her visit to Guatemala in June, that would guarantee the safe return and family reunification of Guatemalan minors in the US who otherwise might have been placed in custody and provide the returnees with Guatemalan government assistance. The
National Immigration Law Center and the Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights filed a class action suit to block the removals of the Guatemalan minors. After a hearing on August 30, District of Columbia District Judge
Sparkle L. Sooknanan ordered that no unaccompanied Guatemalan minors be removed from the US for at least 14 days. Government lawyers confirmed that after the judge's ruling children who had been put on planes headed to Guatemala, at least one of which might have taken off but then returned to the US, were removed and returned to the
Office of Refugee Resettlement. On September 18, federal district judge
Timothy J. Kelly extended Judge Sooknanan's emergency order to all Guatemalan minors who entered the US alone and have not exhausted their immigration appeals. Judge Kelly's order enjoins the government from removing these minors from the US. In his order, Judge Kelly noted there was no evidence any of the children's families had asked for their return as the government had claimed; referenced a
whistleblower report to Congress that at least 30 of the children had been abused in Guatemala; and warned the government against taking his decision as an invitation to remove minors from other countries, some 2,000 of whom are in government facilities. Judge Kelly was appointed by Donald J. Trump.
Mexico On January 23, 2025,
Mexico denied a United States military plane the ability to land, causing the plane to never take off while two others bound for Guatemala did. Later that week, White House press secretary
Karoline Leavitt tweeted that Mexico accepted four deportation flights in one day from the ICE Air Operations and government-chartered flights. On February 14, 2025, Mexican President
Claudia Sheinbaum said that 13,455 immigrants had been deported to Mexico, 2,970 of which did not originate from Mexico.
Palestine An investigation by
The Guardian and
+972 Magazine identified two deportation flights of Palestinians arrested by ICE utilizing the private plane of
Gil Dezer, a business partner and friend of Trump. The flights landed at
Ben Gurion airport where Israeli security forces transported the deportees to a
checkpoint in the
occupied West Bank. Dezer's plane was also used in deportation flights to
Kenya,
Liberia,
Guinea and
Eswatini.
Russia The Guardian reported two deportation flights carrying about 80 Russian asylum applicants left Louisiana for Cairo in June and August 2025. In Cairo, the deportees were forced onto planes to Moscow. Russian security services interrogated some en route; at least one, a military deserter facing a 10-year sentence in Russia who claimed to have entered the US lawfully, was tied to his seat. Another Russian asylum seeker reported poor conditions and treatment in the Adams County Correctional Center in Natchez, Mississippi that had caused him to lose 24 kilos. Activists called the deportations "cruel and shameful" and asked Canada to offer asylum to Russian government opponents under US deportation orders. DHS declined to comment on these deportations.
Mixed-status immigrant families with U.S. citizen children In February 2025, a mixed-status family was removed from the U.S. to Mexico after stopping at a
Border Patrol checkpoint in
Sarita, Texas, about 90 miles from
the border. The parents in the family are Mexican citizens, and several of the children are U.S. citizens. The family had been living in the
Rio Grande Valley in Texas and were en route to
Houston, where their 10-year-old daughter, a U.S. citizen recovering from brain cancer, had been receiving treatment. Despite having previously been allowed to pass the checkpoint with a doctor's letter, during their February trip they were detained and questioned, the daughter's medication was allegedly confiscated, and they were held overnight at a federal processing facility near the border before being walked into Mexico the next day. The mother said "[we] were confronted with the hardest decision to make, which was separate permanently from our children, or be deported together". A two-year-old U.S. citizen, V.M.L., was taken into custody with her mother and older sister during a "routine check-in" with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Louisiana on April 22, 2025. A "next friend" of V.M.L. petitioned for a writ of
habeas corpus to obtain toddler's release, and for a temporary restraining order preventing her deportation. The government responded that V.M.L.'s mother was being deported and wished to take V.M.L. with her to Honduras, and presented the court with a hand-written letter saying so, allegedly written by the mother. On April 25, Judge
Terry Doughty asked to speak with the mother to confirm this and consider the petitions. But ICE had already put the mother and two girls on a plane, On March 25, 2025, the state department issued a directive stating that visa applicants would be ineligible if their social media activity indicated that they were "advocating for, sympathizing with, or persuading others to endorse or espouse terrorist activities or support a designated foreign terrorist organization", and that similar activity could result in the revocation of existing visas. On April 9, 2025, the DHS announced it will screen social media accounts for what it deems to be "
antisemitic". On April 8, 2025, in response to the large number of
student visa revocations,
Inside Higher Ed started tracking the number of known visa revocations for students and recent alumni, and mapping the colleges and universities reporting visa revocations. As of the morning of April 9, the tracker showed 419 students and recent alumni from over 80 institutions of higher education across the U.S. In many cases, immigration authorities have not notified the institutions of the reasons for the visa revocations.
Court ordered returns As of 24 June 2025, there have been four deportees that US courts have ordered be returned to the US. They include: •
Kilmar Ábrego García a Salvadoran who was deported to the
CECOT prison in El Salvador despite a court order barring his deportation to El Salvador and despite never having been charged or convicted of a crime. He has since been returned to the US to face newly filed charges of human smuggling. He is currently awaiting trial. •
Jordin Alexander Melgar-Salmeron who was deported to El Salvador despite a court order barring his deportation to El Salvador. A US Court of Appeals has since ordered his return, but he has not been returned yet. •
O.C.G. a Guatemalan who was deported to Mexico despite claiming to have been raped and held for ransom there. He has since been returned to the US and is in ICE custody. Several other migrants have been deported in violation of law and/or court orders. Guatemalan migrant
Maribel Lopez, who has a US citizen child and a pending asylum case, was wrongfully deported to Guatemala and then returned to ICE custody in September 2025.
Britania Uriostegui Rios, a Mexican
transgender woman, was deported to Mexico in violation of an immigration court order in November 2025. Her wrongful deportation was discovered only after her lawyers made inquiries. ICE has said it would allow her to reenter the US; she sued to force ICE to release her from custody on her return.
Any Lucia Lopez Belloza was detained by ICE while attempting to fly from Boston to Texas to visit her family for Thanksgiving. She was sent to a Texas detention facility and then to Honduras despite an emergency federal court order prohibiting her deportation. On December 7, federal agents appeared at Lopez's family's Austin, TX home but left after two hours. The administration was reported to have apologized for deporting Lopez Belloza. Following the administrations refusal to facilitate Lopez Belloza's return,
Richard G. Stearns ordered the administration "to make amends". == Detention and deportation of American citizens ==