U.S. diplomats in several overseas missions received an urgent cable from Washington this spring. They were told to ask nine countries in Africa and Central Asia to take in people expelled from the United States who were not citizens of those nations, including criminals.

It was a glimpse into President Trump’s wide campaign to get countries to accept America’s deportees. American diplomats are reaching out to countries in every corner of the globe, even some shattered by war or known for human rights abuses.

U.S. officials have approached Angola, Mongolia and embattled Ukraine. Kosovo has agreed to accept up to 50 people. Costa Rica is holding dozens.

The U.S. government paid Rwanda $100,000 to take an Iraqi man and is discussing sending more deportees there. Peru has said no so far, despite having been pressed repeatedly.

“The United States is eager to partner with countries willing to accept” people, the cable, dated March 12, said. It listed Tunisia, Togo and Turkmenistan among the possible destinations.

And the administration recently planned to fly citizens of mainly Asian and Latin American countries to war-torn Libya and South Sudan, until a U.S. district court blocked those expulsions. Libya was one of the nine countries mentioned in the cable, which has not been reported previously.

The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the Trump administration has the right to expel people to countries other than their own, possibly paving the way for the deportation flight to South Sudan and similar moves across the globe.

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For years, both Republican and Democratic administrations have asked countries to take back some of their own citizens. Mr. Trump is doing the same, but is also trying to set up a network of nations that accept people from anywhere in the world and put them in prisons, camps or other facilities. In some cases, the foreign governments could allow the people to apply for asylum or try to send them back to their countries of origin.

The Trump administration has spoken to at least 29 nations in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia, according to a review by The New York Times of U.S. government documents, including previously undisclosed diplomatic cables, and interviews with officials.

Beyond that, the State Department has asked diplomats overseas to approach at least another 29 countries, most of them in Africa, for a total of at least 58. Seven have agreed to the administration’s request, and the other conversations are ongoing.

Many of the 58 nations are subject to a new full or partial travel ban to the United States by the Trump administration or are being considered for the ban. A State Department cable dated June 14 instructed diplomats to tell the countries being considered, most of which are in Africa, that they might be able to stay off the list if they agreed to take deportees who are not their citizens.

The 36 nations being considered could also be asked to serve as a “safe third country” accepting migrants who applied for asylum in the United States.

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Some countries are asking for payments or favors in return. Others have told diplomats they are uncomfortable accepting immigrants who have no connection to their countries, or fear that there would be a domestic backlash if they agreed to take some.

In some cases, the Trump administration has been willing to pay. The U.S. government gave El Salvador about $5 million after the country put more than 200 Venezuelan immigrants the administration accused of being gang members into a maximum-security prison.

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At a cabinet meeting, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with passion about the process: “We are working with other countries to say, ‘We want to send you some of the most despicable human beings to your countries, and will you do that as a favor to us?’ And the farther away from America the better, so they can’t come back across the border.”

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{snip} Administration officials say they are trying to send a message to those in the United States illegally that the immigrants could end up in brutal conditions in a faraway land if they don’t leave voluntarily.

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The Trump administration has turned to farther-flung nations to take in immigrants.

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