Rs 1 crore per migrant? How Trump govt spent money on deportations

Senate Democrats say migrants were sent to remote nations at huge cost, with little oversight and many later returned home

Trump administration spent more than $40 million (approximately Rs 332 crore) to deport roughly 300 migrants to countries they had no connection to, paying foreign governments in lump sums without a system to track how the money was used, according to a report released on Friday by Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

 

The figures work out at an average cost of about $133,333 (approx. Rs 1.11 crore) per person. In Rwanda, which received seven deportees, the total reached roughly $1.1 million per person, the report found.

 

The White House has defended the policy, saying sending non-citizens to third countries is necessary when home nations refuse to take back undocumented criminals. Immigration groups challenging the practice in court argue it affects law-abiding non-citizens who risk being sent to unfamiliar countries with little chance to contest the move.

 

A US official told Senate committee staff in a private interview that the programme was intended as an intimidation strategy and a costly deterrent to pressure migrants into dropping asylum claims, the report said. The official added that destinations such as Palau and Eswatini were chosen in part to show that migrants could be sent to remote locations far from home.

 

Where the money went

 

Five countries, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, El Salvador, Palau and Eswatini, received a combined $32 million. The funds were transferred directly to foreign governments rather than through third-party partners, and the State Department is not using outside auditors to track how the money is spent, the report’s authors said.

 

Equatorial Guinea, ranked 172 out of 182 countries in Transparency International’s corruption index, received $7.5 million. That is more than the total American foreign assistance provided to the country over the previous eight years combined, the report said. Much of the funding was paid upfront, often before any third-country nationals arrived.

 

In South Sudan, ranked 181 out of 182 for corruption by Transparency International, the US agreed to send eight third-country nationals. In return, South Sudan asked Washington to consider lifting targeted sanctions on government officials, support the prosecution of the president’s political opposition leader and consider investing in its oil, gas and mineral industries, the report said.

 

The report also detailed arrangements with El Salvador. In addition to cash payments, the administration committed to providing an undisclosed amount of “in-kind and financial support to the Government of El Salvador”. At the request of El Salvador’s president, the US returned several high-profile MS-13 leaders who had been serving as US informants, according to the report, affecting a long-running federal investigation.

 

Individual cases raise questions

 

The report described cases where migrants were sent thousands of miles away.

 

A Mexican national was flown more than 8,000 miles to South Sudan at an estimated cost of $91,000 per person, including housing at a US military base in Djibouti along the way. He was sent back to Mexico weeks later. President Claudia Sheinbaum said her government had not been informed of the deportation, the report said.

 

A Jamaican national was sent to Eswatini at a cost of more than $181,000, despite having deportation orders to Jamaica. Weeks later, the US again paid to fly him home. Jamaican officials said they had not refused his return, according to the report.

 

As of January 2026, more than 80 per cent of migrants sent to third countries had already returned to their country of origin or were in the process of doing so, the report said. In some instances, the US paid to fly migrants to a third country and later paid again to return them home.

 

Six concerns raised by senators

 

The report set out six central concerns about the policy:

 

• Expensive and ineffective operations, with tens of millions of dollars spent to move a relatively small number of migrants, sometimes at more than $1 million per person.

 

• Needless wasting of taxpayer funds, where migrants could have been returned directly to their home countries.

 

• Providing money to corrupt governments without oversight, including governments with records of corruption, human rights abuses and human trafficking.

 

• Failure to monitor and enforce agreements, with the State Department not tracking compliance with diplomatic assurances.

 

• Secret deals that do not serve American interests, involving cash payments, political concessions and coercion, without transparency about what the US receives in return.

 

• Circumventing US immigration law, including sending individuals to countries where they may face persecution or torture.

 

Pressure and wider diplomacy

 

Former and current officials in Panama and Costa Rica told the committee that their governments felt pressure from Washington to accept third-country nationals. At the time, President Trump had threatened tariffs on Colombia after it initially refused to accept deportees arriving in shackles. Panamanian officials also expressed concern about US interest in seizing the Panama Canal, according to the report.

 

Following a memorandum of understanding between Costa Rica and the US, the State Department provided Costa Rica with $9.5 million in deportation assistance. State Department officials said Costa Rica’s willingness to collaborate on deportations, including receiving third-country nationals, was a factor in the support.

 

The report said deportation agreements extended to US adversaries, including Iran, which it described as having one of the worst human rights records in the world.

 

Indian nationals affected

 

According to Ministry of External Affairs, 55 Indian nationals were deported through Panama, with the commercial leg of their journey facilitated with assistance from the International Organization for Migration.

 

Data with the Indian government show that more than 3,800 Indian nationals were deported from the United States in 2025.