In the first nine months of 2025, the Trump administration deported a greater number of Nicaraguan immigrants than in all of 2024 and 2023 combined, according to a report.
The United States expelled 6,095 Nicaraguans between January and September, based on information from an anonymous spokesperson at the U.S. State Department.
The report also referenced statistics from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), mentioning that Nicaragua received 52 percent more deportees this year compared to the 3,996 deported in 2024, and three times the 2,020 deported in 2023.
In total, 6,016 Nicaraguans were deported in 2023-2024, which is less than the 6,095 who had been deported by September 30, according to the same anonymous source.
As for expulsion flights, the report indicated that there had been 54 such flights to Nicaragua by September 30, the highest number in five years. For comparison, the U.S. conducted 26 flights in 2024 and just 24 in 2023.
The Nicaraguan government, led by the authoritarian leaders Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, criticized the U.S. for not providing details on the number of deportation flights or the deportees sent back to Nicaragua.
Ortega has only remarked publicly on Nicaraguan deportations a handful of times during Trump’s second term, the first instance being late in April. At that time, he condemned Trump during an event marking the death of Sandinista commander Thomas Borge, alleging that Trump’s actions amounted to “crimes against humanity” due to his deportations of undocumented immigrants.
In a report from March, Ortega acknowledged the arrival of deportees, but it was noted that local airport authorities did not log the expulsion flights in their records. Supposedly, these flights were directed to a remote area utilized for commercial flights to minimize interaction with arriving and departing passengers.
According to the report, Ortega last spoke out about deportations on September 26, claiming he would welcome the deported individuals with “open arms.” He mentioned the arrival of a plane carrying 119 deportees but did not clarify the overall count of deported Nicaraguans.
“The dictator stated that the deported Nicaraguans would be met by officials from the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Health, who would perform medical exams, provide food, and then transport them directly to their homes,” the report said.
“This applies even to those coming from remote areas like Waspam and Kilari in northern Nicaragua.”
