UN Experts Warn US Migrant Transfers Are Exposing Thousands to Rights Abuses

UN human rights experts have warned that agreements allowing the United States to transfer migrants and asylum seekers to third countries are exposing people to serious risks of torture, persecution and other rights violations.

The experts said at least 23,000 third-country nationals had already been transferred by the US government to 29 countries and territories under such arrangements, with agreements involving a total of 35 countries and territories as of June 2026.

They said the transfers were taking place with limited transparency, democratic oversight and independent human rights monitoring, making it difficult to establish whether those sent abroad were receiving adequate protection.

“The harms caused by this US Government scheme are no longer hypothetical,” the experts said, warning that the arrangements could result in torture, ill-treatment, enforced disappearance and breaches of the international principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits sending people to places where they face a real risk of persecution or serious harm.

The experts said the risks extended beyond refoulement. Migrants transferred under the agreements could face arbitrary or incommunicado detention, inadequate access to lawyers, denial of due process, family separation, discrimination, homelessness, trafficking, slavery and limited access to healthcare and other basic services.

Children, women, people with disabilities, trafficking victims, LGBT people, human rights defenders and stateless people were identified as being particularly vulnerable.

The experts also raised concerns about migrants being sent to countries with which they have no personal or legal ties. Such transfers, they said, could deepen the trauma experienced by people who had already fled persecution or violence.

In some cases, receiving countries may lack functioning asylum systems, adequate detention facilities, healthcare or sustainable options for migrants to rebuild their lives. The experts also noted that some of the countries receiving migrants are themselves dealing with conflict, displacement, food insecurity and severe poverty.

The arrangements could also create what the experts described as a “chain” of refoulement, in which migrants transferred from the US are subsequently sent to another country and eventually returned to a place where they face persecution.

They said temporary reception arrangements could be particularly problematic when migrants have no legal status, independent legal advice, means of subsistence or realistic alternative to return.

“A return cannot be presumed to be voluntary when a person has no lawful status, no means of subsistence, no independent legal advice, or no viable alternative to return,” the experts said.

The UN experts said countries could not avoid their international legal responsibilities by transferring migrants elsewhere through bilateral agreements, financial arrangements or diplomatic assurances.

They stressed that the principle of non-refoulement applies whenever a state exercises jurisdiction or effective control, including during transfers between countries.

The experts also cautioned international organisations involved in migration arrangements, including the International Organization for Migration, against legitimising agreements that could expose migrants to serious rights violations. They called for rigorous human rights assessments before such organisations participate in externalisation arrangements.

“Cooperation does not dilute responsibility,” the experts said, adding that a state that knowingly assists another state in conduct violating human rights obligations could itself face international responsibility.

The experts called on all governments and territories involved to suspend the arrangements, restore access to fair asylum procedures and strengthen due process protections. They also called for measures to prevent onward refoulement, alongside greater transparency, independent monitoring and accountability.

The UN Special Procedures have communicated with the United States and the 35 countries and territories involved, as well as the UN refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration. The African Commission’s Special Rapporteur has also engaged with several African states involved in the arrangements.

Source: FSX Business News