US Deportations to African Nations Exploiting Suffering, Rights Group Claims

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has stated that the United States' practice of deporting migrants to third-party African countries is unlawful and exploits human suffering to deter future migration. A report by the group asserts that many of these deportees have no viable alternatives to returning to their home countries, where they may face significant harm.

According to HRW, the U.S. has sent more than 500 individuals to African nations where they are not citizens since 2025. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) maintains that such "third country removals are an essential public safety tool that remove the most dangerous criminal illegal aliens from our streets." Immigration was a central theme of Donald Trump's 2024 election campaign.

HRW reports that some of the countries receiving deportees, including Eswatini, Ghana, and South Sudan, have subjected individuals to arbitrary detention and ill-treatment. In Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and Ghana, deportees were sent to their countries of origin despite the potential risk of violating the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits returning individuals to countries where they face torture, cruel treatment, or threats to their life and freedom.

An unnamed U.S. official reportedly told a Senate hearing that the administration's intent was to "threaten people that they will literally be dropped in the middle of nowhere," a tactic HRW characterized as an effort "to scare people." Michael Garcia Bochenek, HRW's interim U.S. program director, stated, "Deporting people to countries where they have never set foot is part of a U.S. policy designed to cause human suffering as a means to deter migration."

DHS issued a statement asserting that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) obtains diplomatic assurances from destination countries ensuring the safety of deported individuals. DHS also stated, "When an individual is no longer in ICE custody, ICE is no longer responsible for them."

HRW's report is based on interviews with 24 third-country nationals in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, and South Sudan. Some described abusive treatment during deportation flights, including prolonged restraint, denial of medication, and insufficient food or water. The group contends that "opaque deals that facilitate these transfers, some of which are still secret, are part of a U.S. policy that violates international human rights law."

The report also highlighted that at least a dozen individuals who identified as LGBTQ were sent to African states where same-sex relations are criminalized, including some who had been granted U.S. asylum based on the risk of persecution in their home countries due to their orientation or gender identity.

In one instance, a Nigerian man deported from the U.S. to Ghana was later secretly transferred with five others to Togo. He expressed fears of returning to Nigeria, where he could face arrest and torture due to his association with a separatist activist group. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, HRW noted that 11 out of 15 deportees from Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador had left the country by late September, raising questions about whether their returns to their home countries were truly voluntary.

Eswatini, which received 32 deportees, stated that three individuals from Yemen, Belize, and Laos had "voluntarily departed" to their home countries. The nation also affirmed its commitment to ensuring the "rights, dignity and well-being of third-country nationals were respected and protected." Equatorial Guinea reportedly sent at least two individuals to their home countries shortly after receiving 65 deportees. Burundi recently announced an agreement to accept migrants deported from the U.S.