Banished to alien lands – Trump’s secret deportation deals | First Thing

Thousands of individuals have been deported from the United States to foreign nations where they possess no ties. Furthermore, European intelligence officials have cautioned about potential Russian actions against NATO.

An Iranian woman, after enduring a flight in handcuffs, discovered herself in the heart of Africa in a nation she was wholly unfamiliar with. She represents one of countless individuals deported from the US under covert agreements with numerous countries. Determining the extent of third-country deportations is a complex task. Since Donald Trump's re-election in 2025, his administration has deported over 25,000 individuals to nations that are not their own.

Which countries are people being deported to? The Trump administration has secured 35 agreements authorizing the deportation of migrants and asylum seekers to nations where they frequently have no connections. Is this legal? A US federal appeals court on Friday declared the Trump administration's third-country removals policy to be unlawful.

A three-judge panel unanimously concurred that it infringed upon due process. However, the government possesses a 90-day window to appeal the court's decision and is anticipated to pursue this course of action. How imminent is the threat? Normunds Mežviets, the director general of Latvia's state security service, acknowledged indications that Moscow may be preparing more assertive actions in Europe, although it remains uncertain whether these plans are part of a specific destabilization strategy or merely part of their broader efforts to instill fear and uncertainty in the Western world.