According to multiple sources familiar with the talks, the Trump administration has discussed sending migrants with criminal records who are in the United States to Libya and Rwanda.
The proposals represent a significant increase in the administration’s efforts to deter people from traveling to the United States and relocate some of those who are already here to countries thousands of miles away, some of which have checkered histories.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order in January directing top officials to facilitate international cooperation and agreements to relocate asylum seekers.
In addition to sending migrants with criminal records, Trump officials hope to enter formal negotiations with Libya to reach a so-called safe third country agreement, which would allow the US to send asylum seekers apprehended at the US border to Libya, one of the sources said. No decision has been made yet, and it is unclear which nationalities will be eligible.
A State Department spokesperson stated that they do not discuss the specifics of diplomatic communications. The spokesperson also stated that the department is “working globally to implement the Trump administration’s immigration policies.”
CNN sought comment from a representative of Libyan General Saddam Haftar, who was in Washington this week for talks with officials.
Trump administration officials have previously attempted to reach safe third-country agreements with Western hemisphere countries in order to relieve pressure on the US asylum system and stem migration to the United States.
The Trump administration has also expanded cooperation to include working with countries that detain people deported from the United States, most recently with El Salvador.
According to multiple sources, the State Department is in talks with other countries, including Libya and Rwanda, about taking migrants.
“I say this unequivocally: we are actively looking for other countries to take people from third countries,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during a Cabinet meeting Wednesday.
“We are collaborating with other countries to say, ‘We want to send you some of the most despicable human beings—will you do that as a favor to us?'” And the further away from America, the better, so they can not return across the border,” he explained.
Senior State Department officials met with Libyan officials this week to discuss the proposal to send migrants to the North African country, according to one source.
The possibility of another travel ban against visitors from several countries, which the Trump administration has hinted at but has yet to implement, could provide the US with leverage in any negotiations. Libya was added to the ban during Trump’s first term.
A United Nations report published in 2024 highlighted years of human rights violations in Libya, as well as concerns about a lack of accountability for the violations. Rights groups and UN agencies have long documented systematic abuse of migrants in Libya, including allegations of forced labor, beatings, rapes, and torture.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the US and Rwanda have been in discussions as recently as this week about using the country for third-party deportations of undocumented immigrants in the US.
Rwanda and the United States are discussing a possible agreement under which Rwanda would accept migrants with criminal records who have already served their sentence in the United States.
The cost structure is still being worked out, but sources say it will most likely be higher per person than the overall cost of deportees to El Salvador because Rwanda will not imprison the people.
Rwanda would instead integrate them into society and provide them with social services such as a stipend and assistance in finding work locally, according to sources. The plan could take several weeks to put together and would be used on an as-needed basis.
The conversation with Rwanda began in the early days of the Trump administration, when the administration sent a diplomatic note to many countries around the world to gauge interest in cooperating on deportations of illegal migrants in the United States. According to sources, Rwanda signaled its willingness to engage in such conversations.
One person was deported from the United States to Rwanda in March, and the transfer was viewed as a model that could be replicated on a larger scale, according to sources. The individual was Omar Abdulsattar Ameen, an Iraqi refugee.
The concept is not new to Rwanda, as the country signed an agreement with the United Kingdom in 2022 to deport asylum seekers in the UK to Rwanda. However, the plan was derailed by legal issues, and it was abandoned last year by newly elected British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who described the scheme as a “gimmick.”
The deportation of third-country migrants to Libya and Rwanda is likely to be legally challenged. Last month, a federal judge temporarily prohibited the Trump administration from deporting people to countries other than their own without first providing notice and an opportunity to contest the decision.
