Nicaragua Secretly Accepts Over 100 Foreigners Deported from U.S.

Nicaragua has become a clandestine destination for over 100 foreign nationals deported from the United States, according to data analyzed by CONFIDENCIAL. Between January 2025 and June 2026, 116 non-Nicaraguan citizens were deported to the country, a practice that occurs without any public agreement for Nicaragua to serve as a third-country recipient.

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the U.S. government can deport a citizen to another country as long as that country allows entry. But the government of the receiving country has every right to refuse entry to a national of another country, even if they have family ties.

The deportees hail from 16 different nationalities. Honduras leads the list with 22 citizens, followed by Cuba (19), Ecuador (17), Guatemala (11), and Colombia (11). Other nationalities include Peru (7), Venezuela (6), El Salvador (6), and Nigeria (5), with smaller numbers from Bangladesh, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, India, Iran, and Mexico.

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there is little clarity in Nicaragua's decisions regarding who is accepted and why.

Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute, noted that while the U.S. can deport individuals to countries that permit entry, recipient governments have the right to refuse. He highlighted a lack of transparency regarding Nicaragua's decisions on who is accepted and why. Attempts to get clarification from the U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua and the data portal's creators were unsuccessful.

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the absence of a third-country agreement does not necessarily 'prohibit' sending people of other nationalities to Nicaragua, as long as the Government authorizes it and surely those cases are decided that way, on a case-by-case basis. There may be isolated cases with ad hoc consent (case by case), special documents, previous residence, dual nationality or other individual basis.

Legal experts suggest that while Nicaragua lacks a formal third-country agreement, ad hoc consent, special documents, or prior residency could facilitate such deportations on a case-by-case basis. The U.S. law permits removing individuals to a country that agrees to receive them, a process often initiated by the deportees or their families. The majority of the 116 foreigners were sent individually or in pairs, though two group deportations of five and six people occurred in March and May 2025.

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the United States does not carry out this procedure because 'U.S. law allows, in certain circumstances, to remove a person to 'another country whose Government agrees to' receive them.'