Deportees who refused to exit a US flight in Liberia are sent to Equatorial Guinea

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) – Six individuals who were deported by the United States to Liberia last week resisted getting off the plane and instead were sent to Equatorial Guinea, another ‌African nation that signed a third-country deportation agreement with the Trump administration.

What happened

Under a series of often secret agreements, the Trump administration has deported thousands of individuals to two dozen countries that aren't their own as it pushes ahead with its immigration crackdown, advocates say. Immigration lawyers say the practice is being applied as a legal loophole to indirectly return some asylum seekers to countries they fled.

Meanwhile, the group who refused to obtain off the plane in Liberia on Thursday include four Cuban men, a Brazilian man and a Cameroonian woman, the person and lawyer stated.

The bottom line

Taken together, the developments around deportees who refused to exit a US flight in Liberia are sent point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.