US has sent $7.5m to Equatorial Guinea to accept noncitizens deportees | Trump administration
The United States sent $7.5 million to the government of Equatorial Guinea, one of the world’s most repressive and corrupt regimes, to accept non-citizen deportees from the United States to the West African country, according to a prominent Congressional Democrat, current and former state department officials and public government data.
The money sent to Equatorial Guinea is the first from a fund distributed by Congress to resolve international refugee crises and sometimes facilitate the resettlement of refugees to the United States, which has been repurposed to expedite deportations under the Trump administration.
The amount from the Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) emergency fund was sent directly to the government of Equatorial Guinea, whose president Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has been in power for the past 46 years and whose vice president, along with his son Nguema Obiang, are accused of embezzling millions of dollars from the impoverished country to fuel their lavish lifestyles, government data show.
In a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democratic senator on the Senate foreign relations committee, called the payment “highly unusual” and raised “serious concerns about the responsible and transparent use of American taxpayer dollars,” noting the country’s “history of corruption” and government officials’ “complicity in human trafficking.”
He also asked whether there were any protections in place to ensure deportees were not “vulnerable to human smuggling, human smuggling or human rights violations.”
A copy of the letter was obtained by the Guardian. The letter was first reported by the Associated Press.
The agreement fits with the administration’s push to deport people to third countries that has alarmed human rights watchdogs. UN experts warned in July This policy could result in individuals being deported to foreign countries in a single day without adequate legal safeguards or the chance to raise concerns of torture or persecution.
Washington approached at least 58 governments Securing agreements on the admission of deportees, often through diplomatic pressure, including cash payments or threats of travel bans. Nearly all of the countries involved, including Eswatini, South Sudan and El Salvador, are listed in state department reports for serious human rights violations.
“Implementing the Trump Administration’s immigration policies is a top priority for the State Department,” a foreign office spokesman said in response to a Guardian inquiry. “As Secretary Rubio has said, we remain committed to ending illegal and mass immigration and strengthening America’s border security.
“We have no comment on the details of our diplomatic communications with other governments,” the response said.
US deputy secretary of state Christopher Landau met in September with vice president Obiang, who was convicted by a Paris court in 2017 of embezzling tens of millions of euros and laundering the proceeds in France. The U.S. Department of Justice found in 2012 that he spent $315 million on estates, supercars and other luxury goods around the world. The US ultimately seized more than $27 million from the official, including property, luxury cars and the white jewel-encrusted glove that Michael Jackson wore during his Bad tour.
The foreign ministry said Landau and Obiang “reaffirmed their joint commitment to deepen trade and economic ties, combat illegal migration and advance security cooperation” at the meeting on the sidelines of the UN general assembly. Obiang confirmed in late October that he would cooperate with the Trump administration on “the orderly reception of undocumented immigrants under strict joint protocols designed to guarantee a safe and coordinated process.”
Observers noted that the deal was conducted in relative secrecy for an administration that prides itself on its efforts to broker agreements to deport third-country nationals (TCNs) who cannot be repatriated to their home countries.
“Knowing that this was a direct transfer of money to a deeply corrupt government … was a red flag,” said one congressional aide, who called the deal a “remarkable, terrible deal.”
Immigration and Refugee Assistance funds, such as those in Gaza or Sudan, have traditionally been used to “respond to refugee and humanitarian crises abroad” rather than removing non-U.S. citizens from the United States, the aide said.
“There are many places where these funds should be used to support refugees overseas in the midst of conflict or humanitarian crises. There is absolutely a need. So again, why are we sending this to Equatorial Guinea?”
Another aide for congressional Democrats said the state department may have only shared the agreement with Republican lawmakers who “have been grossly partisan lately, more so than ever.”
The office of Republican Senator James Risc, who chairs the foreign relations committee, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how long the deal had been on the table.
