More third-country nationals have been deported by the US to Cameroon, lawyers tell AP

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) — A new group of third-country nationals was deported by the United States to Cameroon on Monday, lawyers told The Associated Press, days after it came to light that the Trump administration sent nine people to the Central African nation last month as part of its secretive program to remove immigrants to countries they have no ties with.

Lawyer Alma David of the U.S.-based Novo Legal Group said that a group of migrants who were not Cameroonian citizens arrived on a deportation flight that landed in the capital, Yaounde, on Monday.

David and Cameroon-based lawyer Joseph Awah Fru said they believed there were eight third-country nationals on the plane but had not spoken to them yet. The two lawyers said they are giving legal advice to some of the nine migrants — five women and four men — from other African countries who were deported from the U.S. to Cameroon last month.

The lawyers also expected to offer counsel to the new group of deportees, they said.

“For now, my focus is handling their shock,” Fru said.

A White House official, who was not authorized to comment publicly about the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity, acknowledged the second deportation flight to Cameroon but gave no details.

The New York Times first reported Saturday on the group of nine sent secretly to Cameroon last month. Two of them have since been repatriated to their home countries, David said.

Most of the deportees had protection orders

Eight of those nine previously deported migrants had protection orders granted by a U.S. immigration judge that prevented them from being deported to their home countries for fear of persecution or torture, David said, some of them because of their sexual orientation and others because of political activity.

Deporting them to a third country like Cameroon, from where they could ultimately be sent home, was effectively a legal “loophole,” David said.

“That is why the United States did not send them directly to their countries,” Fru said. “Because there is cause for concern that they might be harmed, that their lives are threatened.”

David said none of the nine sent to Cameroon last month, which included migrants from Zimbabwe, Morocco and Ghana, had criminal records apart from driving-related offenses. She had no details yet on the eight who arrived on Monday.

African nations are being paid millions

Cameroon, where 93-year-old President Paul Biya has ruled since 1982, is the latest of at least seven African nations to receive deported third-country nationals in a deal with the U.S. Others that have struck deals with the Trump administration include South Sudan, Rwanda, Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana and Equatorial Guinea.

Some of them have received millions of dollars in payments to take deported migrants, according to documents released by the U.S. State Department. Details of some of the other agreements, including the one with Cameroon, have not been released by the Trump administration.

The Trump administration has spent at least $40 million to deport roughly 300 migrants to countries other than their own in Africa, Central America and elsewhere, according to a report compiled by the Democratic staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and released last week.

According to internal administration documents reviewed by the AP, there are 47 third-country agreements at various stages of negotiation. Of those, 15 have been concluded and 10 are at or near conclusion.

Immigration policies are a ‘top priority’

The U.S. State Department said Monday in a statement to the AP on the Cameroon deportations that it had “no comment on the details of our diplomatic communications with other governments.”

“Implementing the Trump Administration’s immigration policies is a top priority for the Department of State,” it said, adding “we remain unwavering in our commitment to end illegal and mass immigration and bolster America’s border security.”

Cameroon's Foreign Ministry didn't respond to a request for comment.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed there had been deportations to Cameroon in January but didn't give specific information on third-country migrants. It did not comment on the second plane.

“We are applying the law as written. If a judge finds an illegal alien has no right to be in this country, we are going to remove them. Period," the department said. “These third-country agreements, which ensure due process under the U.S. Constitution, are essential to the safety of our homeland and the American people."

The Trump administration has used third-country deportation deals as a deterrent to force migrants who are in the U.S. illegally to leave on their own, saying they could end up “in any number of third countries" if deported.

It has also defended the practice as part of a crackdown to remove what it refers to as dangerous criminals and gang members.

Activists and lawyers say the U.S. should know that sending migrants to third countries with poor human rights records risks them being denied due process and exposed to abuse.

Last year, the U.S. deported five nationals from Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, Yemen and Laos to the southern African nation of Eswatini. The deportees had all been convicted of serious criminal offenses, including murder, attempted murder and rape. They had all served their criminal sentences in the U.S.

Four of them have been held at a maximum-security prison in Eswatini for more than six months without charges and have not been allowed to meet in person with a lawyer. Their detentions are the subject of two legal challenges in Eswatini.

Eswatini, which is ruled by a king as Africa's last absolute monarchy, will be paid $5.1 million to take up to 160 third-country deportees, according to details of the deal released by the State Department. The Eswatini king, Mswati III, has long been accused of clamping down on pro-democracy protests in a country where political parties are banned while using public money to fund his lavish lifestyle.

---

Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa. Associated Press writers Chinedu Asadu in Abuja, Nigeria, and Aamer Madhani in West Palm Beach, Fla., contributed to this report.