Equatorial Guinea Forces 25 US-Deported Asylum Seekers Home Under $7.5 Million Deal
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · May 28
Equatorial Guinea Forces 25 US-Deported Asylum Seekers Home Under $7.5 Million Deal
14 articles · Updated · The Guardian · May 28
At least 25 of 32 asylum seekers sent from the US to Equatorial Guinea since November were forced from the Bamy hotel back to home countries where lawyers and UN experts say they face persecution.
The removals stem from an opaque $7.5 million arrangement under which President Teodoro Obiang’s government used the family-owned hotel as a detention site and pressed deportees to produce passports and leave.
All had previously won US protection orders, but immigration lawyers say third-country deportations let the Trump administration indirectly return asylum seekers to places it could not lawfully send them directly.
UN human rights experts this month urged Equatorial Guinea to stop the returns, warning of political violence, torture and death, while the State Department said only that it remained committed to ending illegal and mass immigration.
The case highlights a wider US crackdown in which advocates say thousands have been deported to nearly two dozen third countries, many in Africa, under secretive migration deals.
Beyond one African nation, where else are 14,000 asylum seekers being sent under secret U.S. deals?
How did a $7.5M U.S. deal turn a presidential family's hotel into a prison for asylum seekers?
U.S. Third-Country Deportation Deals: Human Rights Risks, Secret Payments, and the Crisis in Equatorial Guinea
Overview
The United States has increasingly used secretive agreements to deport thousands of migrants to third countries, mainly in Africa and the developing world. These deals are often made to gain diplomatic or economic advantages, with recipient countries accepting migrants in exchange for financial incentives or goodwill in negotiations. Human rights organizations have strongly condemned these practices, warning that they put migrants at risk and shift U.S. immigration problems onto other nations. The lack of transparency and oversight, combined with the involvement of countries known for corruption and human rights abuses, has sparked international outcry and calls for greater accountability.