UN Experts Say U.S. Deportations to Third Countries Risk Grave Abuses
Twenty-four experts who advise the UN Human Rights Council warned that United States deportations of migrants to third countries have triggered a "cascade of human rights violations" with potentially deadly consequences, according to reporting published Sept. 28, 2026. The Guardian
Since Donald Trump returned to power in 2025, the U.S. government has offered millions of dollars to foreign governments to take in migrants, including refugees and asylum seekers with no ties to those countries. Asylum seekers are people asking for legal protection because they fear harm at home. Washington has now struck such agreements with 35 nations, nearly a third of them in Africa.
About 20,000 people have been taken by bus to Mexico under the policy, according to tallies by Refugees International and Human Rights First cited in the latest reporting. More than 5,000 others have been put on flights to countries in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and central Asia.
Those figures update earlier monitoring. Human Rights First and Refugees International reported that between Jan. 20, 2025 and Aug. 15, 2026, the U.S. forcibly transferred more than 23,000 people to 26 third countries. Human Rights First The most recent account points to a wider receiving network and a higher cumulative total, with Mexico accounting for most bus transfers and air removals spread across four regions.
The 24 experts, joined by a special rapporteur for the African Commission, said they had contacted the U.S. and each of the 35 recipient countries to express concerns and call for an immediate halt to the policy. A special rapporteur is an independent specialist asked to examine a rights issue. They said migrants sent to states where they had no connections faced increased risk of torture and ill-treatment as well as enforced disappearances, where people are detained and hidden by authorities.
That intervention follows a prior UN communication. In July 2025, UN experts urged the U.S. government to refrain from any further removals to third countries and to ensure effective access to legal assistance. OHCHR
The Trump administration says its deportations are focused on removing criminals from the U.S. A U.S. appeals court on Sept. 18 rejected the administration's policy allowing swift deportations to third countries, largely upholding a February ruling. Reuters Separately, UN experts have said Trump's removal of immigration judges undermines the independence of the immigration courts and the larger justice system. Reuters
The broader context here is a deportation model based on paid deals between states rather than return to country of origin or prior transit. Think of it like paying another country to serve as a waiting room. For specialists, the variables to watch are consent, screening and post-transfer monitoring. The experts allege deficiencies on all three, with particular exposure for asylum seekers removed to places where they lack language, family or legal support and where oversight is limited.
Looking at what this means for diplomacy, the next test is state response. Communications from Human Rights Council special procedures do not compel compliance, but they create a written record directed at 36 capitals. Recipient governments, many of them aid recipients or security partners, must now weigh financial inducements against reputational cost and potential litigation exposure. U.S. courts have already constrained expedited third-country removal. Whether the executive adjusts agreements, narrows their use to persons with criminal convictions as it asserts, or tests alternative legal authorities will determine if the UN call slows transfers or hardens positions on both sides.
