United States and Cabo Verde signed Asylum Cooperative Agreement diverting asylum seekers

On November 19, 2025, the United States and Cabo Verde signed an "Agreement on the Transfer of Third-Country Nationals" at Praia, which entered into force the same day, according to the State Department's own published treaty text. The agreement is structured as an Asylum Cooperative Agreement (ACA): it authorizes the U.S. to propose transferring asylum seekers to Cabo Verde so they can pursue protection claims there instead of receiving a hearing in the United States. Unaccompanied minors are excluded from transfer, as are individuals with a serious criminal history, gang affiliation, or convictions for terrorist activity.

U.S. law governing "safe third country" transfers requires that a receiving country actually be able to offer full and fair asylum procedures and protection from persecution — a standard now being tested in federal litigation, U.T. v. Bondi, challenging the legality of the administration's ACAs more broadly. Earlier in 2025, the administration had warned Cabo Verde it would bar its nationals from entering the United States if the country did not meet certain requirements within 60 days — one of 35 warnings issued mostly to African nations as part of a broader travel-ban expansion; in January 2026 the administration also imposed an indefinite pause on immigrant visas for Cabo Verdean nationals and required B1/B2 visa applicants from the country to pay a bond in the thousands of dollars. As of this filing no transfers to Cabo Verde under the agreement have been publicly confirmed.