US President Donald Trump’s administration is set to use US foreign aid accounts to return migrants to conflict-ridden countries, including Ukraine, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
“The Trump administration has drawn up plans to spend up to $250 million in foreign aid funds to finance the evacuation and return of people from active conflict zones, including 700,000 Ukrainian and Haitian migrants who have fled to the United States amid ongoing extreme violence at home,” the report said.
According to the publication, the previously unreported proposal was in the works even before the US Department of Homeland Security announced on 5 May that immigrants who voluntarily “self-deport” to their home countries would be eligible for a $1,000 stipend from the US government.
While previous administrations have supported the use of taxpayer funds to voluntarily repatriate migrants, the proposal developed under Trump is unusual in that it includes people who have fled some of the most dangerous parts of the world, and seems intended to bypass the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), a UN-affiliated organisation that typically helps return migrants to their homes. It also coincides with the administration’s polarising attempt to drastically cut foreign aid, notably by dismantling the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and ending 80% of its programmes, including those working in Ukraine, Haiti and other troubled countries.
In addition to Ukrainians and Haitians, the draft documents also mention Afghans, Palestinians, Libyans, Sudanese, Syrians and Yemenis, and say they could also be the target of a voluntary deportation programme. IOM does not support the return of people to any of these countries, the draft documents say.