DHS Quietly Sends 13,000 Asylum Seekers Third‑Country Deportation Orders

An Associated Press investigation finds that in recent months more than 13,000 immigrants who were living legally in the U.S. while pursuing asylum claims have been hit with orders to be deported to so‑called third countries such as Uganda, Ecuador and Honduras—places where most have never lived and have no ties. Using a tactic known as “pretermissions,” ICE attorneys were instructed last summer to move to summarily end asylum cases and seek removal to these countries, stripping people of work authorization and, in some instances, placing them in detention while they wait in limbo, unable to argue their original claims. The nonprofit Mobile Pathways compiled the nationwide tally, and immigration lawyers describe the approach as part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to instill fear and pressure migrants to abandon their cases and return to the very countries they fled. An internal mid‑March email from top ICE legal officials has now told DHS field attorneys to stop filing new third‑country motions tied to asylum cases, but the thousands of orders already issued remain in force and DHS will not explain the shift or its future plans. Advocates warn the opaque program effectively short‑circuits U.S. asylum law and international non‑refoulement norms, creating a shadow deportation pipeline that could be restarted or expanded without public notice.