⏱ Temps de lecture : 1 minutes
What happens when deportation becomes an international transaction? This episode examines the emerging system of third-country removals, in which governments negotiate with foreign states to receive people who are not their citizens.
Deportation traditionally followed a relatively straightforward principle: when a foreign national was legally removed from a country, that person would normally be returned to their country of nationality. A new model of migration enforcement is challenging that assumption.
The United States has developed agreements allowing certain foreign nationals to be transferred to third countries of which they are not citizens. According to the international investigation coordinated by Forbidden Stories, more than 25,000 people had been transferred to third countries between January 2025 and August 31, 2026.
Behind these transfers lies a new form of deportation diplomacy. Migration enforcement is no longer confined to national borders. It becomes part of negotiations involving governments, development assistance, diplomatic relationships, financial arrangements and geopolitical leverage.
Removal can therefore acquire the characteristics of an international service. A government seeking to deport someone may negotiate with another state willing to receive that person even when there is no connection of nationality between them.
This raises a larger question: are we witnessing the emergence of an international market for outsourced migration control? When governments provide money or other forms of cooperation in exchange for another country receiving deportees, border enforcement itself becomes geographically transferable.
The issue is particularly significant for African countries. Negotiations can involve states with profoundly unequal financial and diplomatic power, raising questions about the bargaining position of governments asked to receive third-country nationals.
The system also raises complex legal questions. What status does a deported person have upon arrival in a country where they are not a citizen? What protections apply to detention, asylum procedures, residence or onward removal? And which government remains responsible for protecting fundamental rights?
Beyond the American case, third-country arrangements illustrate a broader transformation in migration governance. Wealthier states increasingly seek to move certain migration-management functions beyond their own territory, including screening, detention, asylum processing and removal.
Migration therefore becomes an arena of geopolitical exchange in which sovereignty, diplomacy, security, financial incentives and human rights increasingly intersect.
This episode examines the emerging political economy of outsourced deportation and asks a fundamental question: how far can a state externalise its migration policy by transferring responsibility for unwanted migrants to foreign soil?
