ICE, Trump and Africa: Secret deals, broken lives

ICE has been deporting long‑time U.S. residents to African nations that they have never visited, part of a covert arrangement forged during Donald Trump’s presidency. The operation, uncovered by a six‑month investigation by a consortium of 26 media outlets led by Forbidden Stories, RFI and France 24, shows that undocumented migrants who had lived, worked, paid taxes and raised families in the United States are being arrested without warning, detained, and then sent to “third countries” such as Ghana, Cameroon and Eswatini. These destinations are far from the migrants’ countries of origin and offer no familial ties, income prospects or legal status, leaving many in a state of limbo, sometimes detained, and at risk of being forced back to the very nations they originally fled.

The investigation reveals that the Trump administration secured these relocation agreements by leveraging political and financial pressure on African governments, offering trade incentives, tariff concessions and discreet bargaining to persuade them to accept the deportees. The journalists involved spoke directly with individuals now stranded in unfamiliar African states, documenting how the United States uses the prospect of hosting undocumented migrants as a negotiating tool in its foreign policy. The report highlights a systematic shift in U.S. immigration enforcement, moving away from traditional deportations to countries of origin and instead outsourcing removal to nations willing to accept them in exchange for economic or diplomatic benefits.

The fallout of these secret deals is profound for the deported individuals, who face uncertain futures in countries that often lack mechanisms to integrate them, leaving many without legal documentation or access to basic services. The investigation’s interactive map and forthcoming scrollytelling pieces aim to illustrate the scale of “third‑country removals” and personalize the human cost, while the broader implications suggest a troubling precedent where immigration policy is weaponized in international negotiations, potentially reshaping how the United States handles undocumented migrants in the future.

⚡ Effects Interpreter