US deportations to African countries unlawful and exploit suffering, rights group says

Campaign group Human Rights Watch (HRW) notes the deportation of migrants from the US to third-party African countries is against the law and exploits suffering to deter migration.

Key points

• HRW remarked it interviewed 24 third-country nationals in six countries – Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini and South Sudan.
• Eswatini, which welcomed 32 deportees from the US, notes three residents – from Yemen, Belize and Laos – "voluntarily departed" to their home countries lately.
• According to The group, residents sent to Eswatini, Ghana and South Sudan, had been arbitrarily detained and faced ill-treatment while in detention.
• Tackling immigration was one of Trump's key pledges during the 2024 election.
• Equatorial Guinea, which received 65 individuals, swiftly sent at least two individuals to their home countries, HRW remarked.

"Many, if not most" of the deportees have no practical option but to return to their home countries regardless of the harm they face there, HRW notes in a report.

Since Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2025, more than 500 individuals have been sent to African countries where they are not citizens, the group states, citing US data.

In practice, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) remarked "third country removals are an essential public safety tool that remove the most dangerous criminal illegal aliens from our streets".

According to HRW, some of the countries accepting the deportees have "arbitrarily detained" or sent them to their home countries, where they face "the risk of persecution or torture".

In Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Ghana, the deportees had been sent to their countries of origin despite the risk of "violating the principle of nonrefoulement [that people should not be sent to a country where they face torture, cruel treatment, or threats to their life and freedom]", it remarked.

For context, the group cited an unnamed US official as having informed a Senate hearing that the point for the administration was that it could "threaten people that they will literally be dropped in the middle of nowhere". "The point is to scare people, " HRW remarked.

"Deporting people to countries where they have never set foot is part of a US policy designed to cause human suffering as a means to deter migration, " remarked Michael Garcia Bochenek, the group's interim US programme director.

In an official note from to the BBC, DHS remarked: "ICE is given diplomatic assurances from destination countries that the illegal aliens being removed there will be safe. When an individual is no longer in ICE custody, ICE is no longer responsible for them." None of the African countries named has commented on the report.

Deported from the US to Ghana then 'dumped' at the border: Nigerian man speaks out.

While announcing the recent departure of three migrants on Wednesday, Eswatini stated that it was committed to ensuring that the "rights, dignity and well-being of third-country nationals were respected and protected", nevertheless.

Some described to the group "abusive treatment" during their deportation flights, including being chained for regarding 18 hours and with no knowledge of their destination. They were additionally "denied access to essential medication, and often did not receive sufficient food or water".

"The opaque deals that facilitate these transfers, some of which are still secret, are part of a US policy that violates international human rights law, " HRW notes.

As the report notes, at least a dozen individuals who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) were sent to African states that criminalise same-sex relations.

Among them were refugees granted protection in the US based on the likelihood they would be persecuted back home since of their orientation or gender identity.

In November, a Nigerian man deported from the US initially to Ghana expressed his fears to the BBC after he and five others were secretly transferred to Togo.

He spoke of his fears regarding returning to Nigeria, where his association with a separatist activist group could lead to his arrest and torture.

In DR Congo, HRW notes it was informed by a US lawyer that of the 15 individuals from Colombia, Peru and Ecuador deported to the country in April, none remained there by late September, with 11 having returned to their home countries.

"The uncertainty and other conditions they faced in the Democratic Republic of Congo call into question whether these returns to countries of origin were voluntary, " the group remarked.

Burundi confirmed late last month that it had agreed to take in migrants deported from the US. You may additionally be interested in.

Nigeria has 'enough challenges' and can't take deportees from US, minister states.

'We can't do without these individuals': Trump's migrant crackdown has businesses worried.

Go to BBCAfrica.com, external for more news from the African continent.

In short, US deportations to African countries unlawful and exploit suffering, rights group says is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.