The Trump administration has steadily expanded the use of third-country deportations as part of its broader immigration enforcement strategy. In late August, that policy widened sharply across Africa, where U.S. authorities sent more than 100 deportees to countries they were not originally from, according to internal government documents obtained by CBS News. The transfers add to a growing network of bilateral arrangements the administration has pursued with African governments since 2025.
ICE expands removals with more than 100 deportees sent to eight African countries
Over a 10-day period ending around August 30, U.S. immigration authorities sent more than 100 deportees from Afghanistan, Cuba, Nicaragua and several other countries to eight African nations, according to internal U.S. government documents obtained by CBS News. CBS reported the deportees were flown to Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Liberia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. The report said the operation unfolded through three charter flights and marked one of the largest recent bursts of third-country removals on the continent.
The Department of Homeland Security defended the policy in a statement quoted by CBS, saying the administration is using lawful options to carry out deportations when removal to a person’s home country is blocked or contested. Reuters separately reported on August 18 that Liberia agreed to accept up to 1,200 third-country deportees over the following year, with an initial group expected days later. Reuters also reported on August 27 that Eswatini received two additional third-country nationals from the United States under a bilateral arrangement between the two governments.
Taken together, those disclosures show the Africa-bound transfers were not a single isolated flight but part of a broader, structured program. Public reporting has identified several receiving countries, but the full list of deportees, their case histories and the exact terms of each bilateral agreement have not been publicly released by the U.S. government.
The latest transfers were dispersed across multiple regions of Africa, from West African countries such as Liberia and Sierra Leone to Central African destinations including the Central African Republic and Equatorial Guinea, according to CBS News. Reuters reporting on Liberia described that country’s agreement as one of the largest known arrangements on the continent, with officials there saying most deportees initially expected would come from Latin American countries including Cuba and Venezuela. In Eswatini, the government confirmed the arrival of additional deportees but did not identify them publicly.
What remains unclear is how long deportees will stay in each receiving country, what legal status they will hold after arrival, and what screening took place before the transfers. The Associated Press reported on August 28 that Eswatini did not disclose the nationalities of two recent arrivals or say how long they would remain in the country. Comparable gaps remain for other destinations named in recent reporting.
No single U.S. agency has released a comprehensive public breakdown showing how many deportees were sent to each African country in this 10-day period. That means the overall scale is clearer than the country-by-country distribution, even as multiple governments have confirmed parts of the operation.
The expansion is rooted in the administration’s effort to remove migrants who cannot easily be deported to their countries of origin, either because those governments limit repatriation or because U.S. immigration proceedings have created barriers to direct return. CBS reported that some deportees had legal protections against removal to their home countries, including cases where immigration judges found they could face persecution or torture if sent back. In those circumstances, third-country removal has become a central enforcement tool.
The policy had already been under scrutiny before this latest round. A February 13, 2026 report released by Democratic members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said the administration’s third-country deportation deals had expanded through opaque negotiations and significant taxpayer cost. The committee’s report described the arrangements as part of a wider system built over months of diplomacy and contracting, while the Migration Policy Institute wrote that the strategy appears aimed not only at increasing removals but also at deterring migrants through the threat of transfer to faraway countries.
For residents following immigration policy, the immediate takeaway is that third-country deportations are no longer limited to sporadic cases. Recent reporting from CBS, Reuters and AP shows the practice is now operating across a broader African network, with additional receiving-country agreements already in place and more details likely to emerge as governments confirm individual flights.