Trump Deportations Cost Taxpayers Whopping $40 Million-Plus Last Year Per Scathing New Report From Dems

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Deportations under President Donald Trump’s administration cost taxpayers “upward of $40 million” last year alone, according to a scathing new report from congressional Democrats released on Friday.

The 30-page report stems from a ten-month investigation by Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led by Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), focusing on the administration’s use of third-country deportations, or the process of deporting a noncitizen from the United States to a country other than their country of citizenship.

“The total costs of the Trump Administration’s third country deportations through January 2026 are unknown but are likely upward of $40 million,” the report read.

Included in the $40 million+ tab was more than $32 million sent directly to Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, El Salvador, Eswatini, and Palau, some of which was sent before any third-country national even arrived.

Palau, the findings show, has received $7.5 million from the U.S., but has still not received any third-country nationals.

The report went on to find that the Trump administration “paid at least one country more than $1 million per third-country national received,” using the U.S.-to-Rwanda payment of $7.5 million to accept third-country nationals as an example, noting that as of January, the country has only received seven deported individuals.

El Salvador, on the other hand, has received the largest number of migrants, with roughly 250 third-country nationals, each of whom costs taxpayers $20,755.

“With countries like Palau or Eswatini, the point is that the Administration can threaten people that they will literally be dropped in the middle of nowhere,” the report quotes a U.S. official as saying. “The point is to scare people.”

Lastly, the report highlighted the significant costs associated with transferring migrants from the U.S. to third countries, noting that the administration has “frequently [used] military aircraft that can cost more than $32,000 per hour” and paid double — “once to remove them to a third country and then again to fly them to their home country.”

“Without oversight, it is unknown whether U.S. funds are facilitating corruption or other abuses,” it read.

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