Trump Administration Spent More than $1 Million Per Person to Deport Immigrants to Rwanda

"Quick query: How do you feel, generally speaking, about the United States government spending the equivalent of 24 years of the median income of a U.S. worker in order to deport a single undocumented immigrant to the nation of Rwanda? Because that's apparently exactly what the country did in 2025 with seven individuals, paying the Central African nation a total of $7.5 million to accept a grand total of only seven deportees-a cost that doesn't even reflect additional money spent on items such as transportation."

""Through a growing web of bilateral arrangements, the United States is convincing foreign governments to take in people with no connection to their country, largely through financial payments or pressure," reads one of the report's conclusions. "In some cases, the Administration is sending migrants thousands of miles only for them to later be returned to their home country at additional taxpayer expense. The Administration justifies these deals as necessary because home countries refuse to accept their nationals, but evidence contradicts these claims.""

The federal government paid Rwanda $7.5 million in 2025 to accept seven deportees. The cost per person equaled more than 24 years of the U.S. median individual income, roughly $44,000, and did not include additional transportation and related expenses. Bilateral arrangements have been used to convince foreign governments to accept migrants with no connection to them, frequently through financial payments or pressure. Many migrants sent to third countries were later returned to their home countries at additional U.S. expense. Third-country removals produced little measurable benefit while imposing significant financial and diplomatic costs on the United States.

Read at Jezebel