House Republicans are pushing legislation to help the Trump administration punish foreign governments that refuse to accept their deported citizens.
The Deportation Compliance Act calls for penalties against any recalcitrant country, which are countries that refuse to take back citizens kicked out of the United States. If passed and signed into law, the U.S. would withhold all foreign assistance to any government that either outright refuses to accept their deportees or takes longer than six months to do so, according to text of the legislation shared exclusively with the Daily Caller News Foundation by its sponsor, Texas GOP Rep. Chip Roy.
“Countries that refuse to accept their own citizens deported from America for breaking our laws must face serious consequences,” Roy stated to the DCNF. “Their actions undermine our sovereignty and security. ”
“To the extent any foreign aid should exist — we should absolutely cut off the flow of cash to those ‘recalcitrant’ countries that refuse to comply with our deportation orders,” Roy continued. “America will not, and must not, tolerate the disrespect of our laws by any foreign government.”
Recalcitrant nations have long frustrated federal officials attempting to carry out immigration law. Rather than remain in U.S. detention indefinitely, many migrants hailing from recalcitrant countries are released back into American communities due to limitations in detention capacity.
The U.S. government identified 13 recalcitrant governments in July 2020: Bhutan, Burundi, Cambodia, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Iraq, Laos, Pakistan and Russia. However, some foreign governments have gone back-and-forth on compliance over the years, and it has not always been easy obtaining an up-to-date tally of uncooperative countries.
Roy and a group of House Republicans sent a letter to the Biden administration in July 2024 requesting an updated list of recalcitrant countries, but the Texas Republican says the administration never responded.
Management of the Biden-era border crisis was made more difficult when Venezuela, the second-highest source of illegal immigration into the U.S., stopped accepting deportation flights in February 2024. Nearly 8 million Venezuelans have fled the country under Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a leftist authoritarian who has overseen rampant inflation, economic turmoil and political repression.
Upon being sworn into office for a second term, President Donald Trump immediately got to work on securing alternate destinations for deported migrants whose home governments may not be willing to take them back — a necessary endeavor in order to fulfill his goal of historic deportations.
The administration has since locked in deals with Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama and Costa Rica to serve as destinations or layovers for illegal migrants deported out of the U.S. A section of the Guantanamo Bay naval base has also been repurposed for migrant detention, with Trump suggesting as many as 30,000 criminal migrants could be sent there – something the Clinton administration similarly did with Haitian nationals during the 1990s.
In a major win for the White House, deportation flights touched down in Venezuela in early February. They were the first repatriation flights in roughly a year.
Trump has also used the threat of tariffs to force uncooperative leaders back in line.
When Colombian President Gustavo Petro in January openly declared he would refuse to take back his deported citizens, Trump immediately announced sweeping 25% taxes on all Colombian goods imported into the U.S. and Secretary of State Marco Rubio authorized visa suspensions against Colombian nationals and travel bans against officials involved in the blocking of the deportation flights. Roughly an hour after those retaliatory measures were rolled out, Petro announced he had reached a deal to begin accepting his deportees again.
Supporters of the Deportation Compliance Act argue the bill would codify another tool for the federal government to rein in uncooperative countries.
“Congressman Roy’s legislation will hold countries accountable who refuse to take deported nationals, some of which have entered America illegally and committed crimes here,” Michael Hough, director of federal government relations for NumbersUSA, said to the DCNF.
“The Deportation Compliance Act is essential for effective immigration enforcement by ensuring that nations either repatriate deported illegal aliens or face significant consequences,” Chris Chmielenski, president of the Immigration Accountability Project (IAP), stated to the DCNF. “IAP applauds Rep. Chip Roy for introducing this legislation, which would give the Trump Administration another tool to assist with its mass deportation efforts.”
In addition to NumbersUSA and the IAP, the legislation is backed by the Center for Renewing America and the Federation for American Immigration Reform, and is co-sponsored by 13 Republican House members.
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