US deportations triggering ‘cascade’ of rights abuses: UN experts

GENEVA - US deportations of thousands of people to dozens of countries are “triggering a cascade of human rights violations”, heightening the risk of abuses like torture, slavery and trafficking, UN experts warned on Sept 28.

Since US President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, Washington has been signing deals with developing countries to take migrants who cannot legally be sent home.

More than 20 independent UN experts, including the special rapporteurs on the rights of migrants and on protecting rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, warned such agreements were “increasing risks of torture and ill-treatment and enforced disappearance”.

They were also “breaching the customary law principle of non-refoulement in countries around the world that are signing agreements to accept planeloads of migrants and refugees removed from the US”, they cautioned.

The experts said the US had signed such deals with more than 35 countries, including Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya and South Sudan.

They said at least 23,000 third-country nationals had been deported so far.

Last week, an investigation by the non-profit group Forbidden Stories and a consortium of international journalists determined the number was already above 25,000 people by the end of August.

The experts warned that the deportees were being sent “to countries or territories with which they have no ties”, which could compound harms that pushed them to flee to the US in the first place.

“Others are sent to places where they risk further violence or discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or human rights advocacy.”

‘Deadly’

The independent experts, who are mandated by the UN Human Rights Council and do not speak on behalf of the UN, highlighted that those impacted included asylum seekers and migrants at various stages of their immigration process.

They warned the arrangements opened the door to a wide range of violations, including arbitrary detention, slavery and trafficking.

“At gravest risk are children, women, persons with disabilities, victims of trafficking, LGBT persons, human rights defenders, stateless persons and other people in extremely vulnerable situations,” they said.

“For migrants in situations of particular vulnerability, the consequences can be deadly.”

The experts said they had notified the US and all the other governments involved in the agreements.

They pointed out that many of the countries involved have “no asylum processing infrastructure, protective holding facilities or adequate health and medical services or sustainable reintegration options”.

“In many cases, these third countries are themselves engulfed in conflict, with their own populations facing displacement, starvation and debilitating poverty,” they said.

“All states and territories involved must immediately halt these arrangements.”

They also stressed that “cooperation does not dilute responsibility”.

“A state that knowingly aids or assists another state in conduct that violates non-refoulement or other human rights obligations may itself incur international responsibility,” they cautioned.

The experts also said they were in contact with UN agencies that assist refugees and migrants, including the International Organization for Migration, to stress that “their engagement must never legitimise arrangements that expose people to refoulement or other grave human rights violations”.

“Participating in measures that lead to rights violations...may, in some situations, amount to complicity,” they warned. AFP