How the Trump administration acts with its expulsions

A global investigation coordinated by the Forbidden Stories consortium reveals the existence of an opaque administrative machine: the "Office of remigration". By secretly funding third-party governments and international agencies to the tune of $410 million, Washington has orchestrated the forcible return of more than 25,000 non-national migrants to third countries, particularly in Africa and Latin America.
In September 2026, the international investigative project "The Deportation Project," led by 72 journalists from 26 global media partners—including La Croix, RFI, France 24, and the Washington Post—brought to light the hidden face of American migration policy.
Since Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January 2025, his administration has quietly established a global network of deportation subcontractors. Tens of thousands of foreigners, often legally protected against being sent back to their country of origin because of the risk of persecution, were sent to “third countries” with which they had no connection whatsoever.
At the heart of this mechanism is a virtually unknown administrative structure created in May 2025 within the US State Department: the "Office of Remigration." Led in the shadows by ultra-conservative adviser Stephen Miller and headed by diplomat Christian Jové Ehrhardt, this office negotiated bilateral memorandums of understanding with 35 targeted countries.
To avoid control of the US Congress and partner nations’ parliaments, the administration has systematically resorted to mere confidential diplomatic notes. This process has made it possible to avoid any public debate and to circumvent democratic transparency on both sides of the Atlantic.
The case of the Central African Republic (CAR) is emblematic of this strategy of opacity. The investigation reveals that Touadéra personally accepted a secret agreement for an overall budget of 85 million dollars over three years.
Concluded without any consultation with his government or its parliamentarians, this deal provided for the reception in Bangui of flows of non-CARAN migrants expelled from American soil. To provide legitimate cover for this particularly sensitive operation:
• $25 million has been directly allocated to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to manage emergency stewardship and on-site logistical reception.
• The rest of the funds served as direct financial leverage for the powers that be, in a country plagued by severe budgetary difficulties.
Investigations by the Forbidden Stories consortium show that the Central African Republic is part of an overall budget of at least $410 million allocated by Washington. Of this amount, $81 million was paid directly to signatory governments, while the rest was allocated to UN agencies ($178 million for IOM, $123 million for UNHCR) responsible for handling return logistics.
Africa was particularly in demand: 49 of the continent’s 54 countries were officially approached by US envoys.
In total, between January 2025 and August 31, 2026, at least 25,447 people were deported illegally to these third countries (the vast majority, nearly 20,000, to Mexico).
The journalists of Forbidden Stories were able to trace the trajectories of these expellees. Many have lived in the US for decades, working, paying taxes, and leaving behind spouses and children of US nationality.
Once on the tarmac of unknown airports such as Yaoundé or Bangui, these individuals instantly fall into what international lawyers call a "legal black hole". Deprived of passports, without any cultural or linguistic reference, they sometimes find themselves detained without charge or exposed to immediate risks of ill-treatment or even forcible re-routing back to their country of origin where their lives remain at risk.
By documenting this system, the investigation lifts the veil on a profound transformation of Western migration policies, marked by the growing temptation to buy the remoteness of undesirable populations, far from the eyes and rules of international law.

Reviewed by: Fatima LAMINE l FatimaLAMINEHebdo

For: FatimaLamineHebdo
Date: 5 October, 2026
Copyright : 2014 - 2026 All rights reserved-LAMINE MÉDIA

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