What happens when your life story is mapped not by where you're born, but by where others decide you can—or cannot—go? Imagine being told, not just to leave a country, but to head for a destination you may have never called home. Throughout history, nations have wielded the power of borders like chess pieces, sometimes resulting in tales so strange they border on the surreal. In the Cold War era, political dissidents were exiled not to their birth nations, but to third countries. Post-war Europe saw displaced persons shuffled between nations as if their origins were mere logistical errors.

Today, 'third-country deportations' have become a geopolitical tool—a way to sidestep diplomatic hurdles, but also to rewrite the fates of individuals at the stroke of a bureaucrat's pen. If identity, belonging, and justice are all tied to the lands we are sent, where do we really belong? Is nationality an accident, an administrative decision, or something profoundly personal?

Next time you ponder the lines on a map, consider those whose destinies hinge on borders drawn in ink, but lived out on the ground. Sometimes, the most surprising journey is not where you go, but why someone else decided you should be there.

This article was inspired by the headline: 'US plans to deport Abrego Garcia to a country that’s not El Salvador, prosecutor tells judge - AP News'.