Migrant deportations: behind the scenes of opaque negotiations between Washington and African countries

A six-month investigation by RFI, as part of a consortium of 24 international media outlets coordinated by Forbidden Stories, uncovered the mechanisms by which the Trump administration negotiates with third countries, particularly in Africa, to get them to accept migrants expelled from the United States.

According to the conclusions of this investigation, Washington has been seeking for several months to multiply agreements with third countries in order to keep more and more foreigners away from its soil, relying on a new tool: expulsion to countries that are not the country of origin of the people concerned. To obtain the cooperation of these states, the American administration would conduct discreet negotiations, mobilizing several levers of its diplomatic and economic power.

The internal documents, chronologies and testimonies gathered by the consortium's journalists make it possible to trace the main lines of these negotiations, which are said to be based on funding, visa facilities, commercial issues as well as a form of diplomatic support granted in return for the reception of the deportees. International organisations are also involved in this scheme, according to the investigation.

Lawyers, diplomats and human rights organizations cited by the investigation describe a give-and-take diplomacy, in which the reception of deported migrants has come to be used as a bargaining chip between Washington and some African governments. The question of why these countries agree to receive people who are not their nationals, and what they actually get out of it, is at the heart of the journalists' work.

The investigation, published as the Trump administration's immigration policy continues to spark controversy in the United States and abroad, highlights a largely unknown part of the policy: the negotiations conducted away from the spotlight with third-party governments to make these deportations to countries other than those of origin possible.