The administration of US President Donald Trump spent more than $40 million to deport about 300 migrants to distant countries with which they had no connection, and the average cost of one such deportation was approximately $133,000.
Points of attention
- The Trump administration spent over $40 million on deporting around 300 migrants to distant countries, with an average cost per deportation staggering at approximately $133,000.
- Report by Democrats on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee sheds light on the excessive costs involved in deportation practices, including cases where individual deportations amounted to over $1 million.
The Trump administration is deporting migrants for fantastic amounts of money
This is reported by Bloomberg, citing a report by Democrats on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The report found that in some cases the costs were significantly higher. For deportations to Rwanda, in particular, the average cost was around $1.1 million per person, of whom the country accepted seven.
A significant portion of the funds were transferred directly to the governments of five countries—Equatorial Guinea, El Salvador, Palau, Eswatini, and Rwanda—without the use of external auditors to monitor spending. In total, these countries received about $32 million.
The report also cites examples of individual deportations. A Mexican citizen was deported to South Sudan at a cost of about $91,000. He was transferred to Mexico a few weeks later.
The document notes that the White House justified the deportation policy as necessary to remove illegal immigrants whose home countries refused to accept them. At the same time, immigration rights groups challenged the practice in court, claiming risks to law-abiding migrants.
In another case, a Jamaican citizen was sent to Eswatini for an estimated cost of more than $181,000, despite an order to return him to his homeland. The US later paid for his transportation again.
According to the report, one US official, in a private conversation with Senate committee staff, described the program as an expensive deterrent and a means of pressuring migrants to abandon their asylum applications.
The report's authors also noted that the State Department does not engage external auditors to track the use of funds transferred to foreign governments.
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