The Trump administration has allocated $410 million to facilitate deportation agreements with 31 countries, which are taking migrants whose home countries cannot or will not accept them.
| PULSE POINTS |
❓ WHAT HAPPENED: The Trump administration has allocated $410 million to secure agreements with 31 countries, primarily in Africa and Latin America, to accept migrants whose countries cannot or will not take them back. The initiative is being led by the new Office of Remigration, a 15-man division within the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM), which was previously concerned with resettling migrants in the U.S. 📰 DETAIL: The Office of Remigration, under the leadership of Christian Ehrhardt, a veteran State Department security official, has been using financial commitments, including $81 million in direct payments to 13 foreign governments, to strike the third-country deals, bypassing typical statutory requirements. The Trump administration has also pledged $179 million to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and $124 million to the UN Refugee Agency for related projects as part of the deals. Senior White House advisor and immigration hawk Stephen Miller is reportedly helping to drive the “remigration” strategy forward, with Ehrhardt being perceived internally as more of a “White House envoy” than a State Department official. 🎯 IMPACT: The third-country deportation strategy has led to the deportation of at least 25,447 migrants under various bespoke removal arrangements, with record numbers of flights tracked this summer. 💬 KEY QUOTE: “The only illegal aliens going to third countries are those whose home countries won’t accept them, including dangerous criminals or illegal aliens with orders of removal who have asked to not be removed to their home country… If any illegal alien wants to go home, we will arrange a free flight for them and give them a $3,000 check,” stated White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis. |
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