Trump Administration Deported 21,000 People to 23 No-Travel Countries Despite US Warnings
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · May 29
Trump Administration Deported 21,000 People to 23 No-Travel Countries Despite US Warnings
4 articles · Updated · The Guardian · May 29
More than 21,000 people were deported from Trump’s inauguration through mid-March to countries the State Department deemed too dangerous for Americans to visit, according to a Marshall Project analysis of ICE data.
Venezuela accounted for more than 18,000 removals, while the administration also sent more than 200 people to Iran, over 1,300 to Haiti, and hundreds to Somalia and Afghanistan; at least 600 deportees were children.
Most deportees had no criminal convictions, and the data does not show how many had sought asylum, raising questions about compliance with US and international bans on returning people to persecution or torture.
The report highlights three deportation flights to Iran since September, including a Christian convert and a political dissident, with 18 people arriving in late January just before US and Israeli strikes began.
The deportations overlap with Trump efforts to end Temporary Protected Status for at least nine countries, a move critics say undercuts protections meant for people from places still gripped by war, repression or state collapse.
Why is the US paying millions to deport people to third countries, and what becomes of them?
As the US wages war in Iran, what is the fate of the hundreds of Iranians deported there?
Unprecedented Deportation Surge: The Trump Administration’s Third-Country Removal Strategy and Its Consequences (2025–2026)
Overview
From January 2025 to mid-March 2026, the Trump administration oversaw an unprecedented surge in deportations, with ICE routinely removing over 30,000 people each month from detention centers. This aggressive pace put the administration on track to break previous deportation records, even as it fell short of the stated goal of one million deportations per year. The crackdown especially impacted families, as incidents of arresting and detaining immigrant parents with U.S. citizen children doubled, leading to more than 50 children daily losing a parent to detention. The administration also expanded the controversial practice of deporting noncitizens to third countries where they are not citizens, raising serious humanitarian and legal concerns.