Côte d’Ivoire has rejected a US proposal to receive migrants deported from the United States who are not Ivorian citizens, adding Abidjan to a growing list of African governments that have declined Washington’s push to expand third-country deportations.
The decision followed a June visit to Abidjan by Christian Ehrhardt, who heads the US State Department’s Office of Remigration. Ehrhardt has been traveling across Africa to negotiate arrangements allowing Washington to send deportees to countries other than their countries of nationality. According to an international investigation by The Deportation Project, Ivorian authorities ultimately rejected the proposal.
The refusal comes as the Trump administration expands a network of third-country deportation arrangements across Africa. Since January 2025, more than 25,000 people have been sent from the United States to 28 countries other than their own, according to the investigation, which was coordinated by Forbidden Stories and involved 26 media organizations.
Washington has also put significant financial resources behind the effort. The administration has authorized or pledged at least $410 million to facilitate deportation arrangements with 31 countries, according to US government records reviewed by The Washington Post. The commitments include $81 million in direct payments to 13 foreign governments, while additional funding has been directed through the International Organization for Migration and the UN Refugee Agency for projects in receiving countries.
Africa has become a central part of that network. By June, 13 African countries had agreements with Washington, while negotiations were underway with nine others, according to internal State Department records cited in the investigation. Countries that have received or agreed to receive third-country deportees include Ghana, Rwanda, Uganda, Eswatini and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Côte d’Ivoire is not alone in pushing back. Nigeria rejected a US request in 2025 to receive Venezuelan deportees who were not Nigerian nationals, while Burkina Faso also refused requests to accept third-country deportees. Burkina Faso’s foreign minister publicly criticized the proposal in October 2025.
The issue has also become a legal challenge for Washington. On September 18, a US federal appeals court ruled that the administration’s policy allowing rapid deportations to third countries was unlawful because migrants were not given adequate opportunity to challenge removal to countries where they had no ties. The administration is expected to seek further review.
For Abidjan, the decision leaves Côte d’Ivoire outside an expanding US deportation network at a time when Washington is using diplomacy, financial commitments and immigration policy to persuade governments across Africa to accept people removed from the United States.
The refusal also adds another dimension to US-Africa relations, as African governments weigh Washington’s requests against their own migration, legal and diplomatic considerations.
