ICE deports Afghans and others to Africa, expanding “third country” deportations

Updated on: August 30, 2026 / 9:19 PM EDT / CBS News

Over a 10-day period, the Trump administration sent more than 100 deportees from Afghanistan, Cuba, Nicaragua and other nations to eight countries across Africa, expanding its "third country" deportation campaign, according to internal U.S. government documents obtained by CBS News.

Three Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation flights, the government documents show, dropped off dozens of men and women expelled from the U.S. in Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Liberia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone.

None of the deportees were from the countries where they were deported, according to the documents. In addition to Afghans, Cubans and Nicaraguans, the ICE flights over the past week and a half included deportees from Iran, Nepal, Turkey and Venezuela, as well as African detainees who are not from the nations where they were sent.

The federal documents, which have not been previously reported on, offer a window into the Trump administration's intensifying campaign to use "third country" deportation agreements to banish groups of deportees to far-flung countries where they have no ties.

More than 30 countries across the globe have agreed to receive such deportations from the U.S., including…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/moneywatch/