Reports have claimed that the administration of US President Donald Trump has spent more than USD 40 million (over Rs 362 crores) in deporting migrants to countries to which they did not belong.
The US Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have issued a 35-page analysis that claims to show US officials paid money to corrupt foreign governments that agreed to accept migrants not belonging to their countries.
“This report outlines the troubling practice by the Trump Administration of deporting individuals to third countries… at great expense to the American taxpayer and raises serious questions,” New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen stated.
Democrats highlighted in their report that ever since Trump assumed power last year for a second term, he has multiplied efforts to deport migrants to third countries. The migrants had no connection to these countries.
Five countries, including Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, El Salvador, Eswatini and Palau, are reported to have received upwards of USD 32 million for accepting migrants who did not belong to them.
While the Democrats were not sure of the exact amount paid, they said it was most likely more than USD 40 million.
Some of the migrants were also deported to countries with a poor track record of human rights. For example, over 200 Venezuelans were sent to a jail in El Salvador, a country with a poor track record of human rights.
The White House has rejected the Senate report.
WH spokesperson Abigail Jackson was quoted as saying by The Independent: “The entire Trump Administration is working to lawfully deliver on President Trump’s mandate to enforce federal immigration law and carry out the largest mass deportation campaign of criminal illegal aliens in history.”
According to the analysis, the US sometimes paid up to a million dollars per person for their deportation.
The report further said some of these deported migrants have already fled the third countries they were sent to.
“The Trump Administration is putting millions of taxpayer dollars into the hands of foreign governments, while turning a blind eye to the human costs and potentially undermining our diplomatic relationships. For an Administration that claims to be reigning in fraud, waste and abuse, this policy is the epitome of all three,” Shaheen said.