Who is sent back to Somalia, and how many?

People come back to Somalia in two ways: forced removal, or return that is called voluntary. Most returns in recent years come from Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Libya, not from Europe or North America.

Somalia's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recorded 9,621 migrant returnees from 2020 to 2024 (NBS Migration Statistics Report, 2nd edition, 2025). It also recorded 4,681 refugee returnees in the same five years (same source). The rules on refugee papers and removal are on Refugee papers and status.

What is the difference between a deportee and a returnee?

A migrant returnee goes back to their home country after time abroad, "whether voluntary or forced, assisted or spontaneous" (NBS Migration Statistics Report, 1st edition, 2024). NBS uses the European Migration Network's definition. A refugee returnee is someone who held refugee status abroad and came home, often through UNHCR.

Forced returns are recorded by Somalia's Immigration and Citizenship Agency, but NBS could not get that data for its first report (NBS, 2024). So Somalia's own tables count mostly people who were helped home.

How many come back each year, by Somalia's own count?

Migrant returnees, counted by the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Migration, Returns and Children's Rights (NBS, 2025):

• 2020: 1,287.
• 2021: 1,127.
• 2022: 3,616.
• 2023: 1,901.
• 2024: 1,690.

Refugee returnees, counted by the National Commission for Refugees and IDPs (NBS, 2025):

• 2020: 351. 2021: 145. 2022: 795.
• 2023: 1,225. 2024: 2,165.

Men of working age dominate both groups. In 2024, 1,288 of 1,690 migrant returnees were male (same source).

Which countries send the most people back?

Migrant returnees from 2020 to 2024, by country (NBS, 2025):

• Saudi Arabia: 4,708.
• Yemen: 2,752.
• Libya: 906.
• Ethiopia: 390.
• Sudan: 239.
• Germany: 88. Belgium and Türkiye: 42 each. Switzerland: 34. Netherlands: 27. Finland: 21.

Refugee returnees came mainly from Yemen (3,793), Kenya (427) and Libya (389) in the same years (same source). The NBS tables list no returns from the United States, the United Kingdom or South Africa for 2020 to 2024.

How many Somalis has the United States removed?

The US Department of Homeland Security rounds its figures to the nearest ten (DHS Yearbook 2023, Table 42):

• 2014: 60. 2015: 120. 2016: 200.
• 2017: 520. 2018: 230. 2019: 150.
• 2020: 110. 2021: 50. 2022: 10. 2023: 20.

Removal to Somalia was tested in court. In Jama v. ICE (2005), the Supreme Court ruled the US could remove people to Somalia without the advance consent of its government (CaseMine commentary). ICE said the first attempted flight cost US$197,680, and Puntland authorities refused to accept the man (MPR News, 23 Jun 2006).

On 7 December 2017, a flight carrying 92 Somalis turned back after a long stop in Dakar (ACLU, Ibrahim v. Acosta). Detainees said they were shackled for the whole 48-hour episode, and a class action was filed in Florida.

In 2025 the US government marked 4,090 Somalis for removal (Al Jazeera, 12 Mar 2025). In September 2026, eight Somali men were flown to Mogadishu after about a month held at Guantánamo Bay (MPR News, 25 Sep 2026). The end of Temporary Protected Status is covered on Refugee papers and status.

How many does the United Kingdom return to Somalia?

Few. Home Office returns to Somalia as destination (Home Office returns dataset, year ending June 2026):

• 2014: 35 enforced, 1 voluntary.
• 2018: 41 enforced, 16 voluntary.
• 2019: 43 enforced, 6 voluntary.
• 2022: 6 enforced, 7 voluntary.
• 2024: 12 enforced, 1 voluntary.
• 2025: 13 enforced, 3 voluntary.

More Somali nationals now leave the UK for EU countries than for Somalia. In the first half of 2026, 58 were removed to EU member states and 7 to Somalia (same dataset).

UK courts have set the limits. In Sufi and Elmi v. United Kingdom (28 June 2011), the European Court of Human Rights ruled that returning two men to Mogadishu would breach Article 3 (EIN summary). It found conditions in the Afgooye corridor camps and in Dadaab reached that threshold.

Later UK guidance changed course. MOJ (2014) held that an ordinary civilian returning to Mogadishu generally faces no real risk, and OA (2022) kept that finding (Upper Tribunal, OA (Somalia) CG [2022] UKUT 33). OA found that only people with no clan or family support, no remittances and no livelihood face conditions below the legal standard.

What about Germany and the Netherlands?

Germany removed 19 people to Somalia in 2023, 12 in 2024 and 46 in 2025 (Bundestag, Drucksache 21/8469, 8 Oct 2026). Flights go through Nairobi, where German police hand people to airline escorts for the last leg (Bundestag, Drucksache 21/4496).

The German government listed four charter flights and their costs (same source):

• 15 October 2024: €137,585.
• 6 March 2025: €293,855.
• 10 July 2025: €387,280.
• 8 December 2025: €356,800.

The Netherlands was the first government to end its pause on returns to Somalia, in December 2012 (Amnesty International, 23 Oct 2014). In November 2013 it returned a 26-year-old man to Mogadishu, who was wounded in a suicide attack three days later (same source).

What about the Nordic countries?

Returns are small and often handled through confidential deals. Denmark has an undisclosed agreement with Somalia, reported to allow up to 12 returns a year (The Local Denmark, 14 Jun 2018). The ministry said it was confidential "at the request of Somalia".

Norway's and Sweden's returns are set out on Refugee papers and status. Somalia's own tables record 21 migrant returnees from Finland and 2 from Norway in 2020 to 2024 (NBS, 2025).

How many has Saudi Arabia deported?

Far more than any Western country. From December 2013 to August 2014, Saudi authorities carried out mass deportations to Mogadishu, after holding people in deportation centres (Landinfo, 1 Sep 2021). The US State Department put the total since 2013 at about 85,000 by 2016, Landinfo reports.

Norway's embassy in Nairobi told Landinfo the pace was about 4,000 a year from 2016 to 2019, and about 2,000 in 2020 (Landinfo, 2021). Deportees go by charter to Mogadishu, wherever in Somalia they come from. The early 2014 wave is on Which routes did Somalis take to leave?.

How did returns from Kenya work?

Through a voluntary return agreement that Kenya, Somalia and UNHCR signed on 10 November 2013 (The Star, Kenya). Returns began in December 2014, the same report says. UNHCR's yearly count of refugees returned to Somalia from all countries shows the peak (UNHCR Refugee Data Finder):

• 2015: 32,343. 2016: 36,136. 2017: 41,476.
• 2018: 13,081. 2019: 6,241. 2020: 1,560.
• 2023: 1,876. 2024: 1,959. 2025: 1,187.

Returnees first received US$80 each, or US$100 with special needs, and went to Luuq, Baidoa and Kismayo (UNHCR, pilot returns story).

Rights groups questioned how voluntary it was. Human Rights Watch said in 2016 that Kenya gave Dadaab refugees no real choice (Africanews, 15 Sep 2016). Amnesty found in 2017 that returnees in Baidoa faced costly unsafe water, hunger and new displacement (Amnesty International, 21 Dec 2017).

What about Yemen, Djibouti and South Africa?

• Yemen: 1,935 refugees returned from Yemen in 2024 alone, the most from any country (NBS, 2025).
• Djibouti: in 2003 the government ordered undocumented foreigners out by 15 September; an estimated 100,000, mostly Somalis, Ethiopians and Yemenis, left (USCR World Refugee Survey 2004, Refworld).
• South Africa: Somalia's tables record no returnees from South Africa for 2020 to 2024 (NBS, 2025). See South Africa.

What do people find when they arrive?

Somalia's envoy office and IOM give reception support. In 2022 they gave reception help to 3,616 people and onward transport to 3,627 (NBS, 1st edition, 2024). Fewer got deeper help: 246 received reintegration assistance and 68 business training that year.

Where migrant returnees settled, 2020 to 2023 (same source):

• Banadir (Mogadishu): 2,323.
• Somaliland: 3,040.
• Puntland: 1,631.
• Galmudug: 454. Jubaland: 225. South-West State: 211. Hirshabelle: 47.

US deportees interviewed in Mogadishu described losing their Somali, few jobs, stigma and no relatives to go to (Al Jazeera, 2025). A UK tribunal found that hotel rooms cost about US$25 a night and rooms about US$40 to US$150 a month (OA (Somalia) [2022] UKUT 33).

What else has been reported?

• US court orders, 2026: a Star Tribune analysis of immigration court data found more than 500 Somalis in Minnesota ordered deported in 2026, and about 1,000 Somali asylum seekers given removal orders since February, as reported by the Gateway Pundit (Gateway Pundit, October 2026, citing the Star Tribune). NPR reported in February 2026 that immigration courts had moved Somali asylum hearings onto a faster docket (NPR, 9 February 2026).
• Final orders, 2017: ICE reported 4,801 Somali nationals with final orders of removal as of 1 April 2017, according to reporting at the time (Horn Diplomat, April 2017).

Related pages

• Refugee papers and status
• Which routes did Somalis take to leave?
• Somali refugee camps
• Somali refugees by the numbers
• Saudi Arabia
• Kenya
• Yemen
• Germany
• Internal displacement
• Carried the banner since 1895

Sources

1. Somalia National Bureau of Statistics. "Migration Statistics Report, Second Edition 2025". NBS, 2026. https://nbs.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Migration-Statistics-Report-2025.pdf. Checked 2026-11-12.
2. Somalia National Bureau of Statistics. "Migration Statistics Report, First Edition 2024" (tables 4.1 to 4.6). NBS, November 2024. https://nbs.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Migration-Statistics-Report-2024.pdf. Checked 2026-11-12.
3. US Department of Homeland Security, Office of Homeland Security Statistics. "Yearbook 2023, Table 42: Removals by country of nationality, FY2014-2023". https://ohss.dhs.gov/topics/immigration/yearbook/2023/table42. Checked 2026-11-12.
4. CaseMine. "Removal of Aliens Without Advance Government Consent under 8 U.S.C. §1231(b)(2): Comprehensive Analysis of Jama v. ICE". https://www.casemine.com/commentary/us/removal-of-aliens-without-advance-government-consent-under-8-u.s.c.-§1231(b)(2):-comprehensive-analysis-of-jama-v.-ice/view. Checked 2026-11-12.
5. MPR News. "U.S. Immigration spent $200K on Keyse Jama deportation", 23 Jun 2006. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2006/06/23/jamaflight. Checked 2026-11-12.
6. The Star (Kenya). "300,000 Somali refugees repatriated from Kenya since 2014 - Ruto", 23 Nov 2018. https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2018-11-23-300000-somali-refugees-repatriated-from-kenya-since-2014-ruto/. Checked 2026-11-12.
7. ACLU. "Ibrahim v. Acosta". https://aclu.org/cases/ibrahim-v-acosta. Checked 2026-11-12.
8. Mohamed Gabobe. "'Somalia is dangerous': Former US deportees struggle with fear, uncertainty". Al Jazeera, 12 Mar 2025. https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2025/3/12/somalia-is-dangerous-former-us-deportees-struggle-with-fear-uncertainty. Checked 2026-11-12.
9. MPR News. "8 deported to Somalia from Guantanamo Bay", 25 Sep 2026. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/09/25/adam-abdullah-is-among-8-deported-to-somalia-from-guantanamo-bay. Checked 2026-11-12.
10. UK Home Office. "Immigration system statistics, year ending June 2026: Returns detailed datasets" (Ret_D01, Ret_D02). https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a85c4f754bcee010d514572/returns-datasets-jun-2026.xlsx. Checked 2026-11-12.
11. Electronic Immigration Network. Summary of Sufi and Elmi v. United Kingdom (ECtHR, 8319/07 and 11449/07), 28 Jun 2011. https://www.ein.org.uk/node/262284. Checked 2026-11-12.
12. Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber). OA (Somalia) Country Guidance [2022] UKUT 33 (IAC). https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukut/iac/2022/33. Checked 2026-11-12.
13. Deutscher Bundestag. Drucksache 21/4496, answer on deportations to Somalia. https://dserver.bundestag.de/btd/21/044/2104496.pdf. Checked 2026-11-12.
14. Deutscher Bundestag. Drucksache 21/8469, "Abschiebungen nach Somalia im bisherigen Jahr 2026", 8 Oct 2026. https://dserver.bundestag.de/btd/21/084/2108469.pdf. Checked 2026-11-12.
15. Amnesty International. "Netherlands: Forced returns of Somalis to al-Shabaab areas can amount to 'death sentences'", 23 Oct 2014. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2014/10/netherlands-forced-returns-somalis-al-shabaab-areas-can-amount-death-sente/. Checked 2026-11-12.
16. The Local Denmark. "MPs call for explanation over confidential Denmark-Somalia deal", 14 Jun 2018. https://www.thelocal.dk/20180614/mps-call-for-explanation-over-confidential-denmark-somalia-deal-after-extortion-allegation. Checked 2026-11-12.
17. Landinfo (Norway). "Saudi-Arabia/Somalia: Somaliske borgeres adgang til opphold i Saudi-Arabia og deportasjoner til Somalia", 1 Sep 2021. Via ecoi.net. https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/2060174/Saudi-Arabia-Somalia-respons-Somaliske-borgeres-adgang-til-opphold-i-Saudi-Arabia-og-deportasjoner-til-Somalia-01092021.pdf. Checked 2026-11-12.
18. UNHCR. Refugee Data Finder API, refugees and returned refugees of Somali origin, 1990-2025. https://api.unhcr.org/population/v1/population/?limit=100&yearFrom=1990&yearTo=2025&coo=SOM. Checked 2026-11-12.
19. UNHCR. Story on the first returns from Kenya under the pilot project. https://unhcr.org/node/16755. Checked 2026-11-12.
20. Africanews. "Kenya accused of intimidating Somali refugees to repatriate voluntarily", 15 Sep 2016. https://www.africanews.com/2016/09/15/kenya-accused-of-intimidating-somali-refugees-to-repatriate-voluntarily. Checked 2026-11-12.
21. Amnesty International. "Somalia: Refugees pressured to leave Dadaab return to insecurity, drought and hunger", 21 Dec 2017. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2017/12/somalia-refugees-pressured-to-leave-dadaab-return-to-insecurity-drought-and-hunger/. Checked 2026-11-12.
22. US Committee for Refugees. "World Refugee Survey 2004 - Djibouti". Via Refworld. https://www.refworld.org/node/27008. Checked 2026-11-12.
23. The Gateway Pundit. "Trump immigration crackdown drives tenfold surge in Somali deportation orders in Minnesota". Oct 2026. https://thegatewaypundit.com/2026/10/trump-immigration-crackdown-drives-tenfold-surge-somali-deportation. Checked 2026-11-12.
24. NPR. "Somali asylum cases rescheduled". 9 Feb 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/02/09/nx-s1-5707217/somali-asylum-cases-rescheduled. Checked 2026-11-12.
25. Horn Diplomat. "Nearly 4,000 Somalis set to be deported from US". 18 Apr 2017. https://www.horndiplomat.com/2017/04/18/nearly-4000-somalis-set-to-be-deported-from-us/. Checked 2026-11-12.