Asylum and Migration
US Makes Secret Deals with Developing Nations to Accept Migrants for Payment
A report by the French collective Forbidden Stories reveals that the United States has secretly reached agreements with 35 developing countries to accept migrants who have no ties to those nations. Since Donald Trump began his second term in January 2025, Washington has allocated $410 million for direct payments to receiving countries or UN organizations facilitating expulsions. Data collected through September shows that at least 25,447 people have been deported to third countries, with approximately 20,000 sent to Mexico and others to Latin America, Africa, and the Pacific region. Concurrently, the US government is preparing sanctions against the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which sources indicate may be announced soon. In Texas, a man was seriously injured after being shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent during a confrontation in Austin. This incident occurs amid heightened ICE enforcement activities that resulted in over 50,000 arrests per month in July and August, drawing criticism from local officials and lawmakers regarding transparency and safety.
Ozetta summarises; the reporting is the newsroom's