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Willian Yacelga Benalcazar's asylum lawsuit followed what had go a akin signifier successful migration courts crossed the country: After telling a justice helium feared returning to his location country, the justice ordered his deportation to different one.
Yacelga, who said helium fled threats from transgression gangs successful Ecuador, was facing removal to Honduras. By March, helium had spent 5 months successful Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention, wherever helium said helium caught a virus, had to combat for nutrient and drank h2o contaminated with chlorine. So helium asked to beryllium sent backmost to his autochthonal Ecuador alternatively than proceed to combat his lawsuit successful the U.S.
"I judge we abandoned the asylum lawsuit due to the fact that the lawyer told maine I could beryllium successful detention for three, 4 further months. I was already sick successful there. I couldn't instrumentality it anymore," Yacelga told CBS News from Ecuador, speaking successful Spanish during a telephone interview.
"All I wanted was to get out, to beryllium free, due to the fact that it's horrible being locked up successful there," helium added.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told CBS News Benalcazar entered the U.S. illegally and was deported to Ecuador connected April 16.
The Trump administration's unprecedented efforts to deport asylum-seekers to 3rd countries person stalled thousands of immigrants' cases and frightened thousands much into giving up their asylum claims, according to a CBS News investigation of precocious released national information and interviews with attorneys and migration argumentation experts.
Third-country deportations "have much to bash with fearfulness than scale," said Ariel Ruiz Soto, a elder argumentation expert astatine the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan deliberation tank based successful Washington, D.C.
About 17,500 radical person been deported to 3rd countries since President Trump returned to office, according to an estimation from Third Country Deportation Watch, a monitoring radical operated by the nonprofits Refugees International and Human Rights First. The immense bulk were sent to Mexico. That fig is astir 2% of the full deportations borderline czar Tom Homan told CBS News person been carried retired during Mr. Trump's 2nd word truthful far.
Far much person faced the menace of being deported to a 3rd country. In a sweeping, monthslong campaign, much than 75,500 asylum cases received a question to "pretermit," oregon terminate proceedings without a proceeding connected the merits, according to a CBS News investigation of migration tribunal data.
These motions were comparatively uncommon until October 2025, erstwhile the Board of Immigration Appeals, the appellate assemblage successful the U.S. migration tribunal system, ruled that migration judges should determine connected motions for third-country removal earlier considering whether idiosyncratic qualifies for asylum. These countries person signed "asylum cooperative agreements" with the Trump medication that let the U.S. to re-route asylum-seekers there, forcing them to question refuge extracurricular of American soil.
After that decision, migration attorneys said astir each asylum-seeker they represented present had to reason they feared persecution not lone successful their location country, but successful third-party nations similar Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala and Uganda.
ICE did not respond to CBS News' petition for remark astir its efforts to nonstop asylum-seekers to 3rd countries oregon astir detention installation conditions.
In cases wherever a question to pretermit was filed, astir 16% of asylum-seekers — oregon astir 12,300 radical — withdrew oregon abandoned their asylum claims oregon agreed to voluntarily depart the U.S., migration tribunal information done March 31 shows.
"The 3rd countries radical are being removed to are often precise unsafe countries themselves that don't person a functioning asylum system," said Victoria Neilson, supervising lawyer astatine the National Immigration Project. "There's a batch of reasons for radical to beryllium acrophobic and I conjecture take the devil you cognize implicit the 1 you cognize thing about."
Asylum cases successful limbo
More than 24,000 radical received removal orders to 3rd countries the U.S. has asylum cooperative agreements with aft a question to pretermit their lawsuit was filed, the migration tribunal information shows. ICE has not disclosed however galore person been really removed, and did not respond to CBS News inquiries astir the figure. Some, arsenic Yacelga did, whitethorn question to instrumentality to their location countries anyway.
Immigration attorneys told CBS News they are doubtful that it volition beryllium feasible to deport truthful galore radical to 3rd countries nether the agreements. Honduras, for example, has lone agreed to judge 10 non-Honduran deportees per month, but much than 6,300 non-Hondurans had a deportation bid to that state by the extremity of March aft receiving a question to pretermit their case. About 60 had been removed to Honduras arsenic of precocious April, according to Third Country Deportation Watch.
"I judge what we're seeing present is the inevitable effect of forcing judges to bid immigrants deported to 3rd countries that person not agreed to judge them," said Adriana Heffley, an migration lawyer successful Atlanta, Georgia. "There are thousands of radical present with deportation orders that cannot beryllium carried out."
In mid-March, ICE attorneys received an email directing them not to record caller motions to pretermit cases, The Seattle Times reported, but that cases wherever motions had already been filed could continue. DHS did not respond to CBS News' petition for remark connected the memo.
A national lawsuit against the signifier of pretermitting asylum cases nether the third-country agreements is presently pending, accusing the national authorities of subverting owed process and arguing the countries it has signed agreements with person inadequate asylum systems.
About 13,300 cases — much than fractional of those with third-country removal orders — are besides stalled portion those immigrants entreaty their removal, migration tribunal information shows, arsenic an entreaty puts a intermission connected deportation. The BIA, which makes the last decision, decided little than 1% of the appeals by the extremity of March. Last year, the committee took an mean of 2 years to regularisation connected a lawsuit determination appeal, the information shows.
Under the existent administration, BIA decisions that acceptable a precedent, which are public, person been overwhelmingly successful favour of DHS.
Facing third-country removal from detention
For those with third-country removal orders successful detention — astir 1,800 radical arsenic of the extremity of March, according to migration tribunal information — waiting indefinitely for an entreaty ruling tin beryllium worse than the menace of deportation, advocates and lawyers say. The BIA's turnaround is faster for those successful detention, but inactive averaged astir 10 months past year, the information shows.
Before Yacelga gave up his asylum case, helium was transferred betwixt 5 detention facilities dispersed crossed the state and handcuffed for an full time during immoderate of the transfers, helium told CBS News. He spent astir of his clip successful Eloy, Arizona, thousands of miles from his wife, children and ineligible squad successful New York, and helium said that for implicit a month, his household and lawyer didn't cognize wherever helium was. A justice denied his petition to enslaved retired of detention.
"Unless a national tribunal steps successful and says that their detention is unreasonable oregon amerciable and they merchandise them — otherwise, they volition support you there," said Carlos Trujillo, an migration lawyer successful Provo, Utah. "It's the intelligence warfare of trying to propulsion you to conscionable springiness up."
In a connection to CBS News, a DHS spokesperson said Yacelga crossed the U.S.-Mexico borderline illegally successful August 2023 and that helium was ordered deported to Ecuador past period by migration judge. The DHS spokesperson added that Yacelga was arrested for larceny and transgression possession of stolen property.
"President Trump's connection has been clear: transgression amerciable aliens are not invited successful the U.S. If you travel to our state and interruption our laws, we volition find you, apprehension you, and deport you," the spokesperson wrote.
Yacelga said helium was ne'er prosecuted. The charges were pending erstwhile helium was detained, information from ICE indicates.
About 2 weeks aft his deportation to Ecuador, Yacelga told CBS News helium struggles to slumber and inactive battles symptoms from the microorganism helium caught successful detention, which has near him excessively sick to find a job.
"Everything, each the wealth I had earned, everything I had, I near it with them truthful they could past during the clip I was detained," helium said successful Spanish, referring to his household successful New York. "What I privation is to hide each that and commencement implicit due to the fact that it was horrible being imprisoned without having committed immoderate crime, conscionable for wanting to, well, effort to instrumentality attraction of your family."
About the data
CBS News analyzed data from the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) connected migration tribunal proceedings for those with asylum cases from Jan. 1, 2025, done March 31, 2026. While the information does not specify whether motions to pretermit are made connected the grounds of asylum cooperative agreements oregon successful effect to a different BIA ruling, interviews with respective migration attorneys and data from the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies bespeak that the immense bulk of pretermission motions filed implicit the past respective months person been made successful pursuit of specified third-country removals. Further, portion the information includes the day of a voluntary departure decision, it does not see a day tract for erstwhile an asylum exertion was withdrawn. Interviews with migration attorneys and an investigation of erstwhile information releases from EOIR suggest astir withdrawals took spot aft a pretermission question was filed.
Camilo Montoya-Galvez contributed to this report.
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