A U.S. deportation flight carrying dozens of migrants from Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey and Georgia has landed in the Central African Republic (CAR), lawyers and human rights advocates confirmed Friday, marking the latest controversial third-country deportation carried out by the Trump administration as part of its aggressive immigration crackdown.
The policy of deporting migrants—even those granted limited legal protection in the U.S.—to third countries with which they have no personal or familial ties has become a core pillar of President Donald Trump’s expanded immigration enforcement push. Notably, this flight included Iranian nationals who had previously fled their home country, despite Washington being officially at war with the Tehran government that Trump has labeled a “terrorist regime.” Legal representatives confirmed at least two Iranian women were among those on board, a group that included people granted “withholding of removal” status. This designation, which offers weaker protections than full asylum, was still recognized as a legitimate form of legal protection for migrants facing danger if returned to their home countries under previous U.S. administrations.
The flight departed from Alexandria, Louisiana, Thursday evening, according to tracking data from ICE Flight Monitor, a project run by the non-profit human rights organization Human Rights First. After a scheduled stopover in Ghana—already a well-established regional hub for U.S. third-country deportations—the plane touched down in Bangui, the CAR’s capital, around 21:00 GMT. Immigration lawyer Alma David, who is familiar with the details of the operation, said it remains unclear whether any migrants disembarked in Ghana or all passengers were brought on to the CAR. Ghanaian immigration officials did not respond to repeated requests for comment from AFP.
The deportation destination itself raises immediate alarm, as the U.S. State Department currently maintains a level 4 travel advisory for the CAR, urging Americans “do not travel to Central African Republic for any reason.” Though years of intervention by a United Nations peacekeeping mission, Rwandan defense forces and Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group have slightly reduced large-scale violence, armed rebel groups and anti-government factions still control large swathes of the mineral-rich, deeply impoverished country, leaving it one of the most unstable nations on the African continent.
Emily Trostle, an attorney representing several of the deportees, warned that the migrants face extreme risk of being forcibly expelled onward to the countries they originally fled—a pattern that has repeated across other U.S. deportation operations in Africa. “These individuals are being removed from the United States and abandoned in a country where they have no status, no connection and no support network,” Trostle told AFP. “We fear they will ultimately be forced to return to the countries they originally fled.”
The Trump administration has defended its third-country deportation policy, arguing that it is only prohibited from sending people with “withholding of removal” status directly to their country of origin, where they face verified danger. The administration claims this legal framework allows it to send such migrants to any other nation, even if those countries then choose to deport them onward to their original home. Past cases have already documented widespread abuse: deportees and their legal teams have reported unsanitary, overcrowded holding conditions in Ghana and prolonged, indefinite detention in Eswatini. In some cases, migrants deported to African hubs including Ghana and Equatorial Guinea have already been sent back to home countries where U.S. immigration judges previously ruled they would face persecution or harm.
This landing in Bangui is believed to be the first U.S. deportation operation carried out under a new opaque deportation agreement between Washington and the CAR, one of several non-transparent deals the Trump administration has struck with African governments in recent months. Local civil society leaders say CAR authorities have refused to share any details about the agreement or the status of the incoming migrants. “We don’t know if these migrants who are coming to and will be received on Central African soil are in transit or if they are entitled to apply for asylum,” said Paul Crescent Beninga, a Central African political scientist and civil society leader. “The government doesn’t want to provide any answers, the government isn’t communicating.”
A U.S. State Department spokesperson reiterated the administration’s hardline stance on immigration but declined to answer questions about the terms of the deal with the CAR, saying only: “we remain unwavering in our commitment to end illegal and mass immigration.” CAR authorities also did not respond to requests for comment.
The controversial operation comes just one week after a landmark lawsuit was filed against the U.S. and Equatorial Guinea at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Africa’s top regional human rights body. The suit seeks to halt U.S. deportations to Equatorial Guinea, which has become another key transit hub for U.S. third-country deportations, and block the Equatorial Guinean government from expelling migrants onward to their high-risk home countries.