Stephen Miller leads push to deport 25,000 migrants to third countries under secretive deals

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller is leading a sweeping, multi-agency campaign to accelerate the deportation of undocumented children and expand third-country removals. Under secretive agreements backed by $410 million in State Department funding, the US has deported over 25,000 migrants to third countries like Ghana and Cameroon where they have no ties. Meanwhile, child removal orders have doubled to nearly 200,000. While the White House frames this as an anti-trafficking rescue effort, critics and a federal appeals court have condemned the tactics as unlawful violations of international non-refoulement laws.

Third-country deportation agreements

• ▪Thirteen African nations have signed third-country deportation agreements with the United States, with 12 of those countries receiving a total of 450 deportees by August 31, 2026.
• ▪The United States has finalized third-country deportation agreements with 35 countries across six continents, with 28 countries having already received deportees by August 31, 2026.
• ▪Approximately 20,000 non-Mexican nationals were deported from the United States to Mexico by land routes without an official agreement between the two countries.
• ▪The United States has deported at least 25,447 people to third countries under agreements with 35 countries as of August 31, 2026, according to an investigation by Forbidden Stories.

Stephen Miller's deportation coordination

• ▪White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis stated that Stephen Miller's multi-agency effort to deport migrant children is an anti-trafficking initiative designed to locate, rescue, and reunite undocumented children with families in their home countries
• ▪White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller is leading a multi-agency drive across five cabinet-level departments to accelerate the deportation of undocumented immigrant children and third-country removals.
• ▪Stephen Miller directs a whole-of-government approach utilizing personnel from the departments of Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Justice, State, and Defense to maximize child removals.

Child removal orders

• ▪Immigration judges have ordered the removal of nearly 200,000 children from the United States since Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025, according to data analyzed by Mobile Pathways.
• ▪Monthly immigration court removal orders for children rose from 7,366 in January 2025 to peaks of 16,200 in June, 16,750 in July, and 14,744 in August 2026.
• ▪Of the nearly 200,000 children ordered removed from the United States under the second Trump administration, 70 percent were under the age of 13.

State Department remigration funding

• ▪The Trump administration has earmarked $410 million for third-country deportation agreements, with $81 million designated for signatory governments and the remainder for aid organizations like the IOM and UNHCR.
• ▪The State Department funneled $250 million originally intended for refugee services to pay immigrants to leave the United States, according to a report by The Independent.
• ▪The State Department's Office of Remigration, established in May 2025 and led by Christian Jove Ehrhardt, handles the negotiations and payments for the $410 million in third-country deportation agreements

Legal concerns

• ▪On September 18, 2026, a US federal appeals court ruled that removing individuals to third countries without giving them a meaningful opportunity to raise fears of torture or persecution is unlawful.
• ▪Immigration attorneys and human rights groups state that third-country removal agreements are designed to circumvent US court orders blocking deportations to dangerous homelands.
• ▪Critics and sources state that the Office of Refugee Resettlement is sharing children's confidential files with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, dismantling legal firewalls designed to protect minors.

Humanitarian concerns

• ▪Human rights organizations warn that the Trump administration's third-country deportations of more than 25,000 migrants violate the international law principle of non-refoulement by placing individuals at risk of being returned to countries where they face persecution
• ▪Deportees sent to third countries face arbitrary detention and abuse, including more than 250 men held in a high-security prison in El Salvador under inhumane conditions, according to Human Rights Watch.
• ▪The Trump administration that began in January 2025 is targeting individuals with 'withholding of removal' status, such as LGBT individuals and political refugees, for deportation to third countries where they have no ties

Debatable claims

• ▪The Office of Refugee Resettlement should share migrant children's files with ICE
• ▪The US should stop deporting migrants to unrelated third countries
• ▪The United States should accelerate the deportation of undocumented children