Senate Democrats on the Foreign Relations Committee released a 30-page report on Friday asserting that agreements struck by the Trump administration to send migrants to third countries have cost U.S. taxpayers millions of dollars while yielding limited durable results.
The document, prepared by the committee's Democrats and led by Senator Jeanne Shaheen, says the total tab for third-country removals is unknown but that more than $32 million has been forwarded directly to five countries: Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, El Salvador, Eswatini and Palau. The report covers reported agreements and removals through January 31, 2026.
As of January 2026, the five named countries had accepted roughly 300 third-country nationals from the United States, the report states. Some 250 of those individuals were Venezuelans sent to El Salvador. The report says the majority of those third-country nationals have either already been returned to their home countries or are scheduled to return.
In illustrating the report's findings, Democrats point to several costly and seemingly inefficient cases. One example the report highlights involved a Jamaican national who was sent to Eswatini at an expense exceeding $181,000, even though a U.S. court had determined he should be returned to Jamaica. Weeks after being sent to Eswatini, the report says the individual was flown approximately 7,000 miles back to Jamaica, again at U.S. expense. The report also records that the Jamaican government told investigators it had not objected to the man's eventual return to his homeland.
The report additionally recounts earlier reporting about other migrants who were initially removed to third countries and then ultimately returned to their home countries despite concerns about safety. It refers to a case involving a woman from Sierra Leone who was first deported to Ghana and then forcibly returned to Sierra Leone, even though a U.S. judge had granted her request to be sent elsewhere, according to the document.
Senator Shaheen and the committee Democrats framed the report as an accounting of the Trump administration's practice of transferring migrants to nations with which they have no connection. "This report outlines the troubling practice by the Trump Administration of deporting individuals to third countries - places where these people have no connection - at great expense to the American taxpayer and raises serious questions," Shaheen said in a statement included in the report.
The report was signed by Senator Shaheen and fellow committee Democrats Chris Coons, Chris Murphy, Tim Kaine, Chris Van Hollen, Cory Booker, Tammy Duckworth and Jacky Rosen.
According to the Democrats' findings, the State Department has not demonstrated that it is conducting follow-up oversight on how taxpayer dollars are being used in connection with these agreements, even when the funds go to governments with known records of corruption or human rights concerns.
Committee Democrats write that while the report documents agreements and reported third-country removals through January 31, 2026, the Trump administration appeared poised to expand the practice. The report states: "Minority Committee staff understand the State Department is pursuing third country removal agreements with 70 to 80 countries."
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report. The administration has publicly described its mass deportation initiative as a central promise of President Trump's 2024 campaign and has said the effort "is freeing up resources, revitalizing opportunity and restoring safety."
Critics who are cited in the report contend that the policy of deporting migrants to third countries is intended to instill fear among migrants and drive self-removals - that is, to encourage those in the United States to leave voluntarily and to deter others from coming. The report notes the administration has not provided detailed information publicly about the specifics of its arrangements with third countries, nor has it disclosed comprehensive plans for how such removals are to be implemented and overseen.
Taken together, the committee Democrats' report raises questions about both the fiscal cost and the practical outcomes of the third-country removal program, citing millions in direct payments to partner countries, relatively small numbers of migrants actually relocated through the agreements documented, and instances in which migrants were ultimately returned to their countries of origin at additional U.S. expense.
Methodology note - The report examined agreements and reported removals through January 31, 2026, and the Democratic members who released the document said their staffers had identified ongoing State Department efforts to negotiate similar agreements with dozens more countries.