DHS is secretly sending migrants to foreign countries that received “sweeteners” from the State Department.
Here’s what we know so far. The U.S. State Department has agreements with at least 20 countries to receive migrants so far, while pursuing dozens of others, in exchange for multi-million dollar foreign aid packages. Previously, so-called “third-country deportations” were intended for undocumented immigrants who could not be safely returned to their home countries. But now the program has been ramped up significantly and includes people who went through the courts and won protection from deportation to their home country.
In other words, migrants who are “doing it the right way” are being apprehended without warning, put on secret flights, and sent to a country where they’re not from and might not even speak the native language. In their new country, they have no long-term legal status, no work permit, and no way to make a living. In many cases, they are detained in converted hotels, military camps, restricted housing blocks, or house arrest. Many of these nations are very poor, with high crime, political instability, and inadequate healthcare.
Our government has kept these deals secret. What little we know has come from court records and congressional reports. This is being done without congressional authorization. The US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants has a “Third Country Deportations Tracker” page where you can learn more.
Right-wing commentators often complain about the “Deep State,” by which they mean government bureaucracies implementing their own agenda out of public view. What is this, if not the Deep State the right claims to be so worried about?
To learn more, check out this report from CNN:
Sources:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-deports-venezuelan-father-texas-west-africa/
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/u-s-sends-20-deportees-to-liberia-part-of-1200-migrants-the-country-will-receive-under-new-deal
https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/us-deportation-central-african-republic-includes-protected-afghan-man-ptag-2982763-2026-08-30
https://refugees.org/tcdtracker/
More Good Reads
Amy Black: “Right vs. Left is Too Simplistic”
In campaign season, candidates are encouraged to magnify their differences with opponents. A flood of oversimplified and often misleading attack ads prime voters to view politics through the lens of “us versus them” and “good versus evil.” It is tempting to join the chorus and demean people based on their perceived political views.
But as Christians, we are called to love our neighbor and treat people with dignity as fellow image bearers of God. One way to do this is to seek greater understanding of those with different political perspectives. It is easy to stereotype people, especially in politics when so many public officials malign their opponents in ways that feed mistrust. Instead of assuming you know someone’s motivations (and let’s be honest, we often assume the worst), ask them to share why they support a particular candidate or issue position. Give people space and time to tell their stories. Pause to ask clarifying questions to understand their views better and listen to their responses.
The Bulwark: “The Cruelty Comes to Springfield”
The Haitians being fitted with monitors are not fugitives hiding from the government. They are showing up when the government tells them to.
“They are not hiding,” said Vilès Dorsainvil of the Haitian Support Center. “They know where they live. They know where they work.” If immigrants are summoned before a judge, he said, they appear. “You ask them to go for ICE checking, they do that. And they arrest them.”
Dorsainvil said seven Haitians had reported for ICE check-ins last Thursday. One was a woman who had given birth twenty days earlier and lost the baby. “She came to the office. She could not even walk,” he said. “But they put the shackle on her.”
CATO: “An Ideologically Driven Plan To Target Nonprofits?”
Looks like someone has leaked details to the New York Post about a plan led by appointees of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to go after the tax exemptions of major nonprofits perceived as being at ideological odds with the Trump administration. These include George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR); civil penalties and “massive back payments” are also envisaged. (Separately, the federal government is also pressing a criminal case against SPLC based on particular factual contentions unlikely to have a parallel for most other groups.) Treasury would be the lead agency in an attempt at mass revocation because it houses the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
