HARLINGEN, TEXAS — Paraguay will receive an initial group of 25 Spanish-speaking non-citizens deported from the United States starting Thursday, the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Tuesday. The arrangement is part of President Donald Trump's mass deportation push through third-country agreements, which allow the U.S. to send immigrants to countries they have no ties to.

The ministry said each case had been evaluated individually, in full respect of national sovereignty, immigration laws, and international law. "These migrants do not have pending asylum applications in the United States," the ministry said, adding that the intention of the collaboration is to facilitate the safe and orderly return of the individuals to their countries of origin.

Robert Alter, an official at the U.S. Embassy in Paraguay, praised the agreement and called it a testament to Washington's close relationship with the South American country. Alter also sought to assuage concerns about the legality of the deportations.

The Trump administration has approached dozens of countries to take part in third-country deportations and is seeking similar arrangements with 47 additional countries. Costa Rica, El Salvador, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini and South Sudan are among the nations that have accepted such deportations, in some cases signing multimillion-dollar deals to accept and imprison deportees. As of February, Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. estimated that more than $40 million had been awarded to foreign countries in contracts as an incentive for accepting deportees.

Some proposed destinations have raised concerns about human rights conditions. South Sudan faces one of the world's largest displacement crises as ongoing fighting risks plunging the country into a full-scale war. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a conflict continues between government forces and Rwanda-backed rebels, and the U.S. State Department warns of "civil unrest" in the area. A group of 15 deportees from South American countries were sent from the U.S. to the Congo last week.

The Uganda Law Society and the East Africa Law Society pledged to challenge local third-country deportations after a dozen deportees arrived from the U.S. earlier this month. The two organizations said the deportations were an "undignified, harrowing and dehumanising process" that reflected a system of "transnational repression."

The Trump administration has publicly insisted on deporting Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man, to an African country. Abrego Garcia was willing to go to Costa Rica, which pledged to accept him.