Third‑country deportations surge

U.S. immigration lawyers and advocates say more than 13,000 pending asylum cases have been targeted with orders that would send the respondent to a country other than their homeland, according to a tally compiled by advocates and reported by national outlets. (pbs.org) Advocates note that, despite the large number of court orders, implementation has lagged: an independent tracker run by Refugees International and Human Rights First estimates fewer than 100 people have actually been flown to third countries so far, leaving most people in legal limbo without family, language supports, or clear access to services. (thirdcountrydeportationwatch.org) (abcnews.com) The mechanism driving this is the government asking judges to end asylum proceedings early and order removal to a “third country” — meaning a nation that is not the person’s country of nationality or last habitual residence — often citing formal pacts called Asylum Cooperative Agreements, which are bilateral arrangements where the United States and a partner country agree the partner will receive and process certain migrants. (migrationpolicy.org) Government lawyers have been filing motions in immigration court to terminate cases on that basis, a procedure advocates have called a motion to pretermit when they ask the judge to dismiss an application as legally insufficient. (cgrs.uclawsf.edu) The enforcement apparatus has simultaneously expanded transport and removal logistics: reporting shows removal flights and ICE charter activity have grown, with operational records noting thousands of flights and a recent spike in routes to new destinations in Africa, Latin America, and elsewhere. (visaverge.com) That operational push has drawn multiple legal challenges — including a Massachusetts case filed in 2025 (D.V.D. v. DHS), a national class action led by Human Rights First, and a federal judge’s nationwide block that the Justice Department has appealed — and a mid‑March internal email from ICE lawyers reportedly told field attorneys to stop filing new third‑country pretermission motions. (cliniclegal.org) (humanrightsfirst.org) (missionlocal.org) Federal courts are inundated with habeas corpus petitions — legal filings asking a federal judge to review whether detention or removal is lawful — with reporting counting more than 18,000 such petitions filed in the past year as defenders race to secure emergency relief and keep clients off third‑country flights. (propublica.org) Human rights groups have documented concrete harms from transfers already carried out, for example a Human Rights Watch report describing roughly 200 people expelled to Costa Rica who faced arbitrary detention, limited access to asylum there, and many returns to dangerous conditions; separate trackers list dozens of countries that have accepted U.S. third‑country transfers. (hrw.org) (thirdcountrydeportationwatch.org)