Did other countries empty out prisons to send to US?
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Executive summary
Claims that foreign governments “emptied out” prisons and shipped inmates into the United States are not supported by independent reporting or public evidence as a broad, systematic practice; fact‑checking outlets and criminology experts have found no proof that Venezuela or other countries orchestrated mass expulsions of prisoners to the U.S. border [1] [2]. That said, there are documented, limited cases in which foreign governments have released political prisoners and the United States has received them under specific programs, and there are active political and bureaucratic narratives — notably by some U.S. lawmakers and advocacy groups — that amplify or reframe isolated events as coordinated prison dumping [3] [4].
1. The allegation and who has pushed it
Since 2022 Republican lawmakers and some commentators have repeatedly alleged that countries such as Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua are deliberately releasing violent prisoners and pushing them toward U.S. borders; congressional letters and press statements from members like Rep. Troy Nehls and Rep. August Pfluger explicitly framed the phenomenon as “emptying” prisons and demanded DHS answers [4] [5]. Those political claims circulated widely and were taken up in partisan messaging and conservative outlets asserting that foreign regimes are weaponizing migration by sending criminals to the United States [6].
2. What independent reporting and fact‑checkers found
Investigations by independent journalists and nonprofit fact‑checkers find no evidence for a systematic program of foreign governments emptying prisons to send inmates to the United States. The Marshall Project reports that experts inside and outside Venezuela found no signs of mass releases into migrant caravans and cautioned that crime declines in Venezuelan statistics do not equate to exported criminals [1]. FactCheck.org examined President Trump’s repeated public claims and concluded there is no documented evidence that Venezuela emptied prisons to send criminals to the U.S. [2].
3. Documented exceptions and lawful transfers
There are concrete, narrow examples that can be—and have been—mischaracterized as “emptying prisons.” The U.S. government publicly processed 222 Nicaraguan political prisoners who were released from Nicaraguan custody and later admitted to the United States under a parole program; the State Department documents that process and the individuals’ admission [3]. Separately, formal prisoner‑transfer treaties and legal mechanisms exist between countries and the U.S. for the transfer or repatriation of incarcerated persons, which are administrative and case‑by‑case rather than mass expulsions [7].
4. How rhetoric diverges from evidence — and why it matters
The rhetorical framing of “emptying prisons” amplifies fear and suggests a coordinated hostile act when the available evidence points to a mix of domestic prison management, targeted releases, irregular migration flows, and political opportunism. Fact‑checking organizations and criminologists warn that crime statistics and isolated releases are being conflated with deliberate exportation of criminals, a leap not justified by available data [1] [2]. Political actors advocating border crackdowns gain leverage from vivid, unverified claims, which constitutes an implicit agenda worth noting [4] [6].
5. What reporting does not show and remaining information gaps
Public reporting and government documents in the reviewed sources do not document any sustained, state‑run program in which multiple foreign governments systematically emptied prisons and sent the released populations to the U.S. border; if such programs existed, they would leave identifiable diplomatic, migration, law enforcement or asylum records, which fact‑checkers say are absent [1] [2]. At the same time, the sources do show official communications and allegations by U.S. lawmakers and advocacy groups that require continued scrutiny [4].
6. Bottom line
The claim that other countries broadly emptied out prisons to send inmates to the United States is not supported by the independent journalism and fact‑checking cited here; limited, lawful transfers and politically significant releases (such as the Nicaraguan parolees) have occurred and can be magnified into misleading narratives but do not equate to a coordinated practice of “prison dumping” [3] [1] [2].