Banished: the secret Trump deals sending migrants across the world
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What is the secret Trump deportation policy that sends migrants to third countries?
This is the Guardian.
Today, the immigrants sent by the Trump administration to random countries across the world.
I've been reporting every year. Сіди а Immigration. In Boy Timo.
This is Rabbiatu Cuate, immersed from Sierra Leone. She had been living in the United States for over three decades after she said she was forced to flee from political persecution in her home country. Earlier this year she went with her son Mohammed. То воно в хер регуляр чекінз від імміграцій сервис.
Лефірдемони. Uh she went and checked in, we just, you know, sweet wait in the room.
I'm sure you know where this is going. In the era of Trump two point zero, we've grown used to these kind of stories.
like the most like foreshadowing moment was like, you know, we seen like two officers coming and they had like long Those big handcuffs and she just literally said, like, Oh my god, I hope, you know, I hope that's not me. And then we were there for a while. Usually her check-ins are fairly, you know, fairly quick.
Stories of families turning up to routine immigration appointments and for their lives suddenly changing in a heartbeat.
And then they just said, um, Rabiyatsu, she said yes. She said, Yeah, we're detaining you. You have a order of removal. They closed the door and uh and that's all I had said, and I you know, I just was like,
What? They said um they're going to detain me that day. So I questioned why. So I had to call my son. My son asked them why is my mom not gonna go home with me. Then they said your mom had a order of removal and then uh we're going to put her in custody.
What happens next to Rabiatu is also predictable. Like tens of thousands of other immigrants in the United States, she's immediately taken to a detention centre in Louisiana. But after this Things take an even darker turn. Because after a few months Rabiatu is very suddenly taken from detention and driven to an airport. And then handcuffed and shackled. She's put on a plane.
It led me through the plane, so I had to manage struggle to climb with the shackles. And my feet and my hands, I was handcuffed, and then they would walk me to a seat. And then I went to the seat. I was there for like hours. I couldn't talk. I was numb. Even as the plane begins
to taxi down the runway, Rabbiatu had no idea what was happening or where she was being taken.
That's when they break the news to me now they are taking me to Ghana. I said, What? Ghana. A
country Rabiatu had never lived in. A country where she knew nobody.
What am I going to do in Ghana?
How did Rabiatu’s life change after being detained and flown to Ghana?
Everyone kept saying I don't know, just cooperate with us.
And even when she arrived in Ghana. This wasn't her final destination. While the policy of deporting immigrants to other third countries is far from new, remember when the UK government tried to send asylum seekers to Rwanda? It's never been used widely. Until now. Since 2025, the Trump administration has struck secret deals with governments around the world to accept people deported from the United States who have no connection to those countries. People from Peru and Colombia have ended up in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A Brazilian and a Cameroonian have been sent to Equatorial Guinea. And once dumped there. There is almost never a way back. From The Guardian, I'm Annie Kelly. Today I'm focused.
Destination unknown. The human stories behind Trump's third country deportation policy.
We've just heard Rabiato's really, really shocking story of how she was taken from her life in the US and sent against her will and in shackles to Ghana. Louisa Lovelock, you're an investigative journalist at The Guardian, and you've been part of a consortium of journalists from different media organizations looking into how people like Rabbiatu are finding themselves in this terrible situation. Rabbiatu was actually interviewed by one of your partners at France 24. When you started this project, along with these other media organizations, on Trump's deportations, what What were the questions that you were trying to get answers to?
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the secret Trump deportation policy that sends migrants to third countries?
0:00–3:05
2
How did Rabiatu’s life change after being detained and flown to Ghana?
3:05–7:20
3
What legal loopholes allow the U.S. to deport people to countries they have never lived in?
7:20–11:05
4
How many secret deals has the Trump administration signed and which nations are involved?
11:05–15:11
5
Why do countries like Ghana and the Central African Republic accept these deportees?
15:11–19:42
6
What other personal stories illustrate the impact of the third‑country policy (e.g., Nika’s case)?
19:42–24:16
7
How much money is the U.S. spending on these deportation deals and what do partner countries receive?
24:16–27:45
8
What are the latest legal challenges and future prospects for stopping the policy?
27:45–30:42
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Today in Focus
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