UN Experts Challenge US Third-Country Deportation Policy

The communication, directed at the White House and 35 partner nations, targets agreements that have cost the US at least $40 million. Experts argue that transferring vulnerable individuals to unfamiliar territories compounds existing trauma and exposes them to risks of violence, discrimination, and potential refoulement—the illegal return of refugees to countries where they face persecution.

Evidence of these risks is already emerging. Two men, Ahmed Soliman and Samson Birhane, were recently detained in inhumane conditions in Equatorial Guinea, a nation with a documented history of human rights abuses. While Solicitor General D. John Sauer has petitioned the Supreme Court to maintain these removals as a security tool, critics point out that many individuals deported under these deals have no criminal records. With roughly 25,000 people already relocated to countries across Africa, Latin America, and Asia, the UN experts warn that the consequences of this policy are increasingly fatal.