Senate Report: U.S. Paid Five Countries Over $32 Million to Take Deportees — Palau Took None

Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee released a 30-page report on February 13, 2026, the product of a ten-month review, finding that the administration sent more than $32 million directly to Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, El Salvador, Eswatini and Palau to accept third-country deportees, in some cases before any deportee arrived. It concludes total costs through January 2026 are likely upward of $40 million. Rwanda received $7.5 million and accepted seven people; El Salvador took about 250 at $20,755 each; Palau received $7.5 million and had accepted no one. The report cites military flights costing more than $32,000 an hour.

Third-country removals send people to states with which they have no connection, and paying for placements raises questions about fiscal control and about the diplomatic terms on which foreign governments accept custody.

State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott did not directly dispute the figures. On February 25 a federal judge ruled the policy of removing people to third countries without notice was unlawful.