Human Rights Watch says the deportation of migrants from the United States to third-party African countries is against the law and exploits suffering to deter migration.
Since Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2025, more than 500 people have been sent to African countries where they are not citizens, according to data cited by the campaign group.
The Department of Homeland Security defended the practice, stating that third-country removals serve as an essential public safety tool to remove dangerous criminal illegal aliens from American streets. Tackling immigration was a key pledge of the Trump administration during the 2024 election.
Detention and Safety Risks in Destination States
According to Human Rights Watch, some of the nations accepting the deportees have arbitrarily detained them or forwarded them to their countries of origin, where they face the risk of persecution or torture. People sent to Eswatini, Ghana, and South Sudan experienced arbitrary detention and ill-treatment while held.
In Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and Ghana, deportees were sent back to their countries of origin despite violating the principle of nonrefoulement, which protects individuals from being returned to places where they face torture, cruel treatment, or threats to life and freedom. The human rights organization interviewed 24 third-country nationals across Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, and South Sudan.
Some interviewees described abusive treatment during their deportation flights, including being chained for approximately 18 hours without knowledge of their destination. They were also denied access to essential medication and often received insufficient food or water.
US Policy Uses Deportation to Deter Migration
The rights group cited an unnamed US official who reportedly told a Senate hearing that the administration’s point was to threaten people with being dropped in the middle of nowhere. Michael Garcia Bochenek, interim US program director for Human Rights Watch, stated that deporting individuals to places where they have never set foot forms part of a deliberate US policy designed to cause human suffering to deter migration.
In a statement to the BBC, the Department of Homeland Security maintained that Immigration and Customs Enforcement receives diplomatic assurances from destination countries ensuring the safety of removed individuals. The agency added that once an individual leaves its custody, ICE holds no further responsibility for them.
White House spokesperson Lauren Bis told the BBC that those sent to third countries included individuals whose home nations refused to accept them or who held court orders blocking their return home. Bis added that any illegal alien wishing to go home could receive a free flight and a $3,000 check.
LGBT Refugees Face Criminalization in African States
The report highlights that at least a dozen people who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender were sent to African states that criminalize same-sex relations. Among them were refugees granted protection in the US based on the likelihood of facing persecution back home.
None of the named African countries immediately commented on the report’s findings. However, while announcing the departure of three migrants—from Yemen, Belize, and Laos—who voluntarily departed to their home countries, Eswatini stated its commitment to ensuring the rights, dignity, and well-being of third-country nationals remain respected and protected.
