AA
Share
The Donald Trump administration deported 116 foreign nationals to Nicaragua between January 2025 and June 2026, according to data from the Deportation Data Project analyzed by CONFIDENCIAL.
Publicly, Nicaragua does not have a third-country deportation agreement like those in place with the other Central American countries. Nevertheless, the Ortega regime has quietly allowed these foreign nationals to enter the country, much as it does with Nicaraguans, whose entry it approves or denies at its own discretion.
In total, the data identified foreign nationals from 16 countries:
- Honduras (22)
- Cuba (19)
- Ecuador (17)
- Guatemala (11)
- Colombia (11)
- Peru (7)
- Venezuela (6)
- El Salvador (6)
- Nigeria (5)
The list also includes one or two nationals from Bangladesh, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, India, Iran, and Mexico, according to the database, which is maintained by researchers from Columbia University, Princeton University, and Rutgers University.
No Clarity on Whom Nicaragua Accepts
Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute, explained that “the United States government may deport a foreign national to another country if that country agrees to admit them. However, the receiving government has every right to refuse entry to a citizen of another country, even if that person has family ties there.” He added, however, that “there is very little transparency regarding Nicaragua’s decisions about whom it accepts and why.”
CONFIDENCIAL sought clarification from the U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua. The embassy referred the inquiry to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but ICE had not responded at the time of publication.
Meanwhile, the University of California, Berkeley, which helps maintain the deportation data portal, also said it has no additional information explaining why these foreign nationals were deported to Nicaragua.
Carolina Sediles, legal adviser to the Nicaraguan American Human Rights Alliance (NAHRA), explained that the absence of a formal third-country agreement “does not necessarily prohibit the transfer of foreign nationals to Nicaragua, provided the Nicaraguan government authorizes it. These decisions are likely made on a case-by-case basis. There may be isolated cases involving ad hoc consent, special travel documents, prior residency, dual nationality, or some other individual legal basis.”
She added that “it is typically the deportees themselves or their family members who contact governments to request that they be admitted. The United States does not handle this process because U.S. law allows, under certain circumstances, for a person to be removed to ‘another country whose government agrees’ to receive them.”
The Foreign Nationals Deported
The 116 foreign nationals were sent to Nicaragua primarily one or two at a time. However, according to the Deportation Data Project, there were two occasions—March 19 and May 9, 2025—when groups of five and six people were deported together.
Thirty-three percent departed from Miami International Airport, while another 25 percent were flown out of Alexandria International Airport in Louisiana.
The database does not explain why these foreign nationals were sent to Nicaragua. It does, however, specify the legal categories under which they were removed:
- 82 individuals were deported under “Code 8,” which applies to migrants who were either intercepted and turned back at the border or apprehended and removed from within the United States.
- 11 individuals were removed under “Code 6,” which applies to migrants arrested inside the United States for violating immigration laws.
- 22 individuals were processed under “Code 3,” a form of voluntary departure granted by an immigration judge, allowing them to leave the United States at their own expense.
One individual was processed under “Code 0,” which allows a migrant to voluntarily withdraw their application for admission at the discretion of an immigration officer.
Agreements to Transfer Deportees to Third Countries
The United States has established agreements with 30 countries to transfer deportees to third countries. Through these arrangements, it has “forcibly transferred more than 17,400 people to third countries with which many have no legal or personal ties. Many have been subjected to arbitrary detention, family separation, refoulement, and enforced disappearance,” Human Rights First said in a report published in May 2026.
Countries that have received deportees under these agreements include Cameroon, Costa Rica, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Moldova, Paraguay, Poland, Uganda, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.
According to Human Rights First, nearly 16,000 foreign nationals have been sent to Mexico, while approximately 1,400 others have been transferred to 20 other countries.
The organization, which monitors third-country deportations, says the Trump administration “has failed to disclose many of these agreements, as required by law.”
It also notes that the U.S. government has paid at least $44 million to third-country governments in direct connection with these agreements, including governments responsible for serious human rights violations.
Human Rights First, an international organization headquartered in the United States, explains that the Case-Zablocki Act, enacted in 1972, requires all international agreements to be submitted to Congress within 60 days of entering into force. However, the agreements with Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Moldova, Poland, and Sierra Leone have yet to be made public.
Latest Deportation Figures for Nicaragua
According to independent sources, the Trump administration has deported more than 10,700 Nicaraguans to Nicaragua, while another 694 have been returned to Mexico.
The regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo has never publicly commented on the foreign nationals deported to Nicaragua from third countries. As for Nicaraguans deported to Managua, officials have said only that “the doors are open” to them, without disclosing how many have returned.
Before Trump took office, Nicaragua received two deportation flights per month. Under the current administration, however, it now receives two flights per week, arriving on Thursdays and Saturdays.
Press reports indicate that the deportees are transported on charter flights operated by GlobalX Airlines. Upon arrival, they are handed over to Nicaragua’s Ministry of the Interior (MINT).
The ministry is responsible for taking them directly to their homes, including those living in remote parts of the country.
Surveillance of Deportees
In March 2026, an investigation by CONFIDENCIAL revealed how an “intensive surveillance” system targeting Nicaraguans deported from the United States operates. The monitoring program was reportedly ordered by Rosario Murillo and is carried out by the Ministry of the Interior.
The increase in deportation flights reflects the tougher immigration policies promoted by Donald Trump, who, after returning to office on January 20, 2025, pledged to deport one million undocumented migrants during his first 365 days back in power. That deportation campaign has continued into his second year in office.
The Ortega-Murillo regime has remained silent about the deportation flights. Despite the migration crisis affecting Nicaraguans in the United States, Ortega has publicly addressed the issue only four times—in April, May, June, and September 2025—to acknowledge the arrival of deportation flights, criticize the deportation of migrants, or reiterate his government’s “open arms” policy toward returning deportees.
In practice, however, deportees have reportedly been designated as “persons of interest” by the government. Neighborhood organizations have been instructed to keep them under surveillance, with the participation of police officers, Ministry of the Interior officials, state employees, and activists affiliated with the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN).
