Two dozen UN experts issued the warning after tracking a sharp rise in third-country deportations since President Trump returned to office in 2025. The US government has offered foreign governments millions of dollars to accept migrants, including refugees and asylum seekers, who have no ties to those countries, striking deals with 35 nations so far. Nearly a third of those agreements are with African countries.
The numbers are steep. Refugees International and Human Rights First estimate about 20,000 people have been bused to Mexico, while more than 5,000 others have been flown to other countries entirely, often places they have never set foot in before.
For migrants caught in this system, the impact is immediate and disorienting. People fleeing danger in one country can end up dropped into another with no language ties, no family, and no legal foothold, according to the experts raising the alarm. That uncertainty is exactly what the UN warning centers on, the risk that people seeking safety are instead landing somewhere just as precarious.