UN pleads for Equatorial Guinea not to send US asylum seekers to their home countries: ‘Their life would be in danger’ | US immigration

Human rights experts at the United Nations have issued a rare public appeal to Equatorial Guinea, urging the Central African nation to halt plans to repatriate US deportees where they face political violence, torture and death.

expressionThe document, co-signed by a representative of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, increases diplomatic pressure on Equatorial Guinea, one of the world’s most repressive regimes, to comply with international human rights standards and avoid the repatriation or deportation of people to countries where they face persecution.

“States must ensure that no one returns, directly or indirectly, to a situation in which his life, freedom or physical or mental integrity would be endangered,” the experts said on Wednesday. he said.

The Trump administration has struck deals with dozens of countries to accept deportees from the United States as part of the president’s “mass deportation” drive. The United States gave Equatorial Guinea $7.5 million to accept third-country citizens who were granted protection from deportation to their home countries where they faced persecution.

The UN public appeal came after several deportees sent to Equatorial Guinea by the US said security officials presented salvo-conductos (temporary travel documents) to nine people deported from the US and told them they would soon be deported to their home countries.

“Equatorial Guinea should never be considered a safe country for immigrants or asylum seekers. It is an extremely repressive, authoritarian state,” said Tutu Alicante, director of human rights group Equatorial Guinea Justice. “Vulnerable migrants are being transported to a country where they have no legal status, no family networks and no meaningful protection mechanisms.”

Esther, who landed in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, weeks ago, said that the conditions in the hotel where she was detained were not like a prison. He and other deportees were denied access to soap, toothbrushes or clean clothing.

“I cried. I struggled. I did everything,” he said in a telephone interview with the Guardian from the hotel room where he was imprisoned. “I fought and fought. There’s nothing left in me anymore.”

Esther is from a different African country. The Guardian uses a pseudonym for him and does not name his country to protect his safety. He said he escaped in 2024 after being arrested and tortured on the orders of government officials, first traveling to South America and then migrating north through Mexico before reaching the southern border of the United States. He spent 14 months in a US immigration detention center before a judge heard his case and granted him a “stay of deportation”; this was a special immigration status that guaranteed he would not be sent back to his home country where he was subjected to violence.

He said he moved in with his uncle in New York and complied with requirements to check in regularly with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He said he was arrested during his check-in appointment, denied access to his lawyer, transported to Louisiana and eventually chained up and put on a plane to Equatorial Guinea. He repeatedly refused to tell her where he was being sent until he boarded the plane and an airline employee informed him of his destination, authorities said.

Since then, he has been kept in a hotel in Malabo, under the protection of armed guards. He said his only access to the outside world was through his hotel room window and through his cellphone, which he managed to keep even after authorities in the United States and Equatorial Guinea seized his travel documents and other belongings.

Lawyers were repeatedly prevented from delivering phone chargers, soap, clean clothes and pads to him and other deportees. He said he was eventually able to get the charger and pads but was wearing the same clothes he was wearing when he was arrested in the US. He also said that after contracting the flu, he was unable to take medication or receive any treatment for the pain he felt in his hands and ankles from being chained for hours during the trip.

Esther said on Saturday authorities told her and at least eight others that they would be deported. “I know what awaits me if they send me wherever they want to send me. I will go to jail, I will be in jail,” he said. He said two years ago authorities arrested and eliminated his father, then arrested him, beat him, and starved him to the brink of death. Esther’s mother, who begged the authorities to accompany her to the hospital, also arranged for her daughter to escape.

“I want to share my story so others don’t have to go through what I went through,” Esther said.

Lawyers for a coalition of nonprofit legal and human rights organizations defending at least 28 people deported to Equatorial Guinea said the deportees were afforded protection under U.S. immigration laws or the international Convention Against Torture; This means they have proven before an immigration judge that they will likely face serious pain and suffering at the hands of their home country’s government. However, authorities in Equatorial Guinea had already returned several of them, including a West African man who was persecuted for his sexual orientation. His lawyers said he is currently in hiding.

Such secondary and tertiary issuances have become increasingly common.

The Trump administration has made agreements with at least 25 countries, including Panama, Costa Rica, Eswatini and Cameroon, to accept third-country nationals from the United States, according to a report released by Democratic members of the Senate foreign relations committee in February.

Some countries, such as El Salvador, have agreed to imprison those deported from the United States; That’s how more than 250 Venezuelan citizens spent four months in an infamous megaprison in El Salvador last year. In other cases, foreign governments keep immigrants in hotel rooms or temporary accommodation before sending them back to their home countries.

“The Trump administration is using all legal options to carry out the largest deportation operation in history, just as President Trump promised,” a US Department of Homeland Security spokesman told the Guardian. The agency did not respond to detailed questions about its policies regarding deportations in third countries and why U.S. officials refused to inform Esther and other deportees about where they would be sent before they were deported.

The Trump administration was empowered by a Supreme Court ruling last summer that cleared the way for the U.S. government to send deportees to South Sudan. In most cases, those deported from the United States are sent to countries with problematic human rights records, active civil conflict, or repressive leadership. Beatrice Njeri, Africa regional litigator for the Global Strategic Litigation Council, who represented Esther and several other immigrants sent to Equatorial Guinea, said many of these deals were conducted in a “secret” manner.

“Our clients like Esther are provided protections in the United States, including female genital mutilation survivors, women who have experienced various forms of sexual violence, LGBTQ+ people, and people who have been subjected to political or religious persecution,” Njeri said. He added that instead of receiving protection, those deported were subjected to “prolonged, inhumane detentions” and subsequent journeys where they faced serious dangers.

The Global Strategic Litigation Council and a coalition of other human rights groups are working to stop these “third country” deportations and help those who have already been forcibly deported to these countries find asylum or safety.

“What we are seeing in Equatorial Guinea is not an isolated problem. This is an expansion of a deliberate system designed to outsource persecution and erode protections for people seeking safety in the United States,” said Bella Mosselmans, director of the Global Strategic Litigation Council. “These agreements cause great human suffering and are a clear violation of international law. They must end.”

He added that he and other human rights defenders were hopeful they would do so in the face of growing international pressure.

In September, the United Nations human rights office called on Ghana to stop sending immigrants sent there from the United States to countries where they face torture. Human rights experts from the UN and the African Commission said on Wednesday they were concerned about the Trump administration’s tactic of deporting migrants, including asylum seekers, to third countries without any arrangements for their long-term safety.

“We are also concerned that these developments reflect broader trends in migration externalization arrangements involving the transfer of migrants, asylum seekers and persons in need of international protection to third countries, including African States, without adequate human rights safeguards.”

Esther said she is surviving by doing her best not to think about the future for now. He said he was able to call his uncle and mother, who panicked. “My mother told me that I was still young, that I had a lot of life to live, so she helped me escape,” he said.

The last time they parted, her mother thought she might never see her daughter again. Esther worries that they will now be reunited, “but he will see me as a corpse to be buried,” she said.