US Plans Deportation Of Migrants To Africa

The administration of United States President Donald Trump is finalising a plan to deport a group of asylum seekers, including several Iranian nationals, to the Central African Republic. The target nation is a landlocked African country that has been plagued by long-standing political instability, widespread violence, and poverty. The details of this relocation strategy were confirmed to the Reuters news agency by two American attorneys and a government official familiar with the matter.

Among those scheduled for deportation are two Iranian women who face verified risks of torture and systemic persecution if they are returned to their native country. Emily Trossel, the legal representative for the two women, disclosed that one of her clients is a Christian convert, while the other is a pro-democracy activist.

The United States Department of State and the presidential office of the Central African Republic both declined to provide immediate comments regarding the arrangement. However, official records indicate that the African nation recently agreed to act as a designated “third country” to accept deportees expelled from the United States.

Legal Status of Detainees and Flight Details

According to Trossel, the two Iranian women were detained by American authorities immediately upon their arrival in the United States in November 2024. Although they formally applied for asylum, a US immigration court subsequently granted them a specific legal protection status known as “withholding of removal.”

This judicial designation signifies that an immigration judge determined there is a greater than 50% probability that the individuals would face severe persecution or torture if forced back to Iran. Despite this finding, the protection only prevents deportation to the country of origin, leaving open the legal loophole of removal to a consenting third country.

An official familiar with the operation stated that the initial deportation flight under this bilateral agreement was scheduled to transport approximately 20 individuals to the Central African Republic. The manifest for this flight, which was scheduled for departure on Thursday, included citizens from Syria and Afghanistan.

Additionally, an attorney who requested anonymity revealed that a Turkish national, who had similarly fled political persecution and held identical withholding of removal protections, was also designated to be aboard the aircraft.

The Third-Country Deporations Framework and Regional Conflicts

The Trump administration has previously established safe third-country deportation agreements with nations such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a neighbour to the Central African Republic that is concurrently managing an outbreak of the Ebola virus. These international agreements target migrants who cannot be legally repatriated to their home countries due to statutory protections or diplomatic standoffs.

While Washington maintains that these third-country treaties are fully compliant with domestic and international laws, human rights organisations and legal advocates argue that the operational specifics remain opaque. Critics warn that many deported individuals could eventually face chain refoulement and end up back in their countries of origin.

The deportations come amidst severe geopolitical friction, following a joint military offensive launched by the United States and Israel against Iran on 28 February. Although initial ceasefire negotiations are currently underway between Washington and Tehran, the underlying tensions remain exceptionally high.

Ali Rahnama, the acting legal director of the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund, criticized the policy, noting that the United States is publicly encouraging the Iranian population to stand against the Islamic Republic while simultaneously sending asylum seekers who fled that regime to highly precarious conditions abroad.

Projected Scope of the Agreement and Local Logistics

The American official knowledgeable about the situation explained that the initial deportees will be housed in secure apartments within Bangui, the capital city of the Central African Republic. The official emphasized that these individuals will not face immediate repatriation to their home states. However, the scope of the bilateral agreement is extensive, with expectations that hundreds of additional migrants could be sequentially deported under the framework.

The United States Department of Homeland Security issued a statement last week asserting that all removals conducted under this agreement would strictly adhere to due process and established legal standards. Furthermore, a spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) stated that the agency would provide “post-arrival humanitarian assistance” to the migrants in Bangui at the explicit request of the Central African government. The IOM clarified that it is not involved in the actual deportation process and that its assistance will be voluntary and aligned with international humanitarian metrics.

To support operations within the Central African Republic, the United States allocated 85 million US dollars to the IOM this year. The Central African Republic has suffered from continuous instability since gaining independence from France in 1960, leaving the majority of its 5.5 million citizens in deep poverty. Although President Faustin-Archange Touadéra signed a peace treaty with several rebel groups last year, other factions remain active despite being weakened by Russian mercenaries, Rwandan troops, and United Nations peacekeepers deployed to support the Touadéra administration.