Third-Country Deportations: What Immigrants Need to Know About the Expanding Policy

What Are Third-Country Deportations?

A third-country deportation happens when the U.S. removes someone to a country other than their country of citizenship, usually because the government cannot or will not return them directly to their home country. The practice has expanded well beyond a handful of cases: recent reporting describes more than 100 people from countries including Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran and Venezuela sent to eight African nations — Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Liberia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone — over roughly ten days.

Protection from removal to one country does not automatically mean someone has lawful permanent status in the United States — the legal effect depends on the type of protection granted.

Why Withholding of Removal Matters

Many of the people affected had already won withholding of removal, a form of protection that bars deportation to a specific country where someone is likely to face persecution. Unlike asylum, withholding does not grant broader immigration status, and the government has argued that it does not bar removal to a third country willing to accept the person.

That argument is now central to the debate. In one widely reported case, an Afghan man named Khalil — whose family had assisted U.S. forces and lost a son fighting the Taliban — won withholding of removal to Afghanistan, then was reportedly deported to the Central African Republic anyway. Advocates say the case shows how someone can be protected from one country and still removed to another with no connection to their case. Because these policies can shift quickly, eligibility for relief has to be evaluated under the law in effect at the time.

Concerns and What It Means for You

Advocates and attorneys have raised several concerns about these transfers:

• Safety: a person may be sent somewhere with no family or community ties, in a country facing instability or conflict.
• Due process: it is often unclear whether people get a real chance to challenge a third-country transfer before it happens.
• Secondary removal: a receiving country could later send the person on to the country they were originally protected from.

If you are in removal proceedings, it matters to know exactly what protection you already have — asylum, withholding, Convention Against Torture relief, or another form of relief — and to respond quickly if the government raises a new destination country, since these cases can move fast.

How an Immigration Attorney Can Help

Third-country removal raises complex questions about existing court orders, available defenses, and the government's authority to designate a new destination country. An immigration attorney can review your case history, identify what relief may still apply, and act quickly if a transfer is proposed.