The Frame In ten days during August 2026, the United States government removed more than one hundred people — Afghans who fought alongside American soldiers, Cubans fleeing a sixty-five-year embargo, Nicaraguans escaping Ortega’s consolidation — and deposited them across eight African nations. Sierra Leone. Central African Republic. South Sudan. Eswatini. Countries where the State Department warns its own citizens not to travel. Countries where Russian mercenaries operate openly. Countries where the rule of law is a theoretical construct. The administration calls this “third country removal.” History will call it something else: the moment the liberal international order stopped pretending it applies to everyone. The Signal What most coverage misses is the legal architecture enabling this. The Immigration and Nationality Act Section 243(a) requires countries to accept their own nationals. When they refuse — Cuba has accepted virtually zero deportees for years; Afghanistan’s Taliban government has no diplomatic relations with Washington — the statute...