The Wall Street Journal reported that President Trump is continuing to work on his plans regarding mass deportations, making contacts with several nations that may soon “take in” undocumented migrants deported from the United States. According to some officials, the U.S. government has already contacted the leadership of some countries in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe.
What happens next for the migrants will depend on the host nation. Among the countries the U.S. has asked to take in the deportees are Libya, Rwanda, Benin, Eswatini, Moldova, Mongolia and Kosovo. The U.S. hopes that these nations will agree to the administration’s requests, presumably in exchange for economic deals.
The Trump administration is also trying to convince some Latin American countries to sign long-term agreements, designating them as safe places where migrants can seek asylum. According to the latest rumors, the federal administration is close to finalizing such pacts with Honduras and Costa Rica.
Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff and leader of the White House Homeland Security Council, has asked State Department officials, among others, to continue the negotiations.
Many of the nations being considered are associated with concerns about human rights violations, including mistreatment of detainees and migrants, such as Libya and Rwanda.
“Most of the countries that are willing to go along with this are probably going to be problematic countries,” said Ricardo Zuniga, a former senior State Department and National Security Council official under President Barack Obama. “But even they are asking ‘What’s in it for us? Who’s going to pay for it? How am I going to explain the political burden of accepting people on behalf of the United States?’”
In mid-March, Trump used the Alien Enemies Act, a law usually applied in times of war dating back to the 18th century, to deport more than 130 alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT maximum security prison. However, a federal judge prevented the government from invoking that rule to deport illegal aliens from the country. Later, ICE itself revealed that many of the individuals deported to El Salvador on charges of belonging to the Tren de Aragua gang had no criminal record of any kind, at least not in the United States.
