Noem Guidance on Third Country Removals

In case you missed it:

On March 30, 2025, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem issued Guidance Regarding Third Country Removals, which she shared with the heads of USCIS, CBP, and ICE.

The “guidance” concerns the foreign detention of noncitizens with a final order of removal following INA 240 proceedings, reinstatement of removal, or administrative removal. It outlines two different processes.

First, where the U.S. has received “diplomatic assurances” that extra-territorially housed noncitizens “will not be persecuted or tortured” by that country, and “if the Department of State believes those assurances to be credible,” then the noncitizen “may” be removed to that third country “without the need for further procedures.”

Second, where the U.S. has NOT received such diplomatic assurances, or has received them but the State Department does not find the received assurances credible, DHS can STILL remove the noncitizen to that country so long as the agency “inform[s]” the noncitizen of their removal to that nation. If the affected noncitizen expresses—unprompted—“fear” of removal to that country, they will be referred to USCIS to determine whether removal to that country might violate the Convention Against Torture.

-KitJ