Image@ REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A group of migrants, including two Iranian women who fear torture if returned to Iran, are set to be flown to the Central African Republic as part of a newly struck deportation arrangement between Washington and Bangui, according to two lawyers and an official with knowledge of the plans.
The CAR government recently agreed to take in so-called third-country deportees from the United States, joining a growing list of African nations that have entered similar agreements with the Trump administration. Neither the U.S. State Department nor the office of the CAR presidency responded to requests for comment on the planned flight.
Among those expected aboard are roughly 20 people, including Iranians, Syrians, Afghans and a Turkish national, according to the official briefed on the matter. The flight could depart as soon as Thursday, two attorneys said separately.
Lawyer Emily Trostle, who represents the two Iranian women, said both had been detained immediately after arriving in the United States in November 2024. One of the women converted to Christianity, while the other is a pro-democracy activist, backgrounds that, according to Trostle, would put them at risk of persecution or torture if deported back to Iran.
Both women had applied for asylum and were granted withholding of removal, a form of court-ordered protection, by a U.S. immigration judge, Trostle said, meaning they cannot legally be sent back to Iran. Rights advocates argue that third-country removals are increasingly being used to sidestep exactly these kinds of judicial protections, sending people instead to nations where they have no ties.
Once in Bangui, the deportees are expected to be housed in apartments rather than repatriated right away, the briefed official said, adding that the arrangement could eventually see hundreds of migrants sent to the country.
The Central African Republic is one of several African nations, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Equatorial Guinea, that have struck similar deals with Washington. Senate Democrats say the broader third-country deportation push has cost tens of millions of dollars , and lawyers and rights groups have criticized the lack of transparency surrounding the agreements, noting that many deportees end up being repatriated regardless.
Adding a layer of complexity to the CAR shipment is the choice of destination itself. The Democratic Republic of Congo, a CAR neighbor that has separately agreed to accept U.S. deportees, is currently grappling with an Ebola outbreak, underscoring the public-health and humanitarian concerns critics have raised about sending vulnerable migrants to fragile states in the region.
The push to deport Iranian nationals comes against the backdrop of the ongoing conflict between Iran and a U.S.-Israeli coalition, which began with a wave of strikes in late February and has now stretched into its third month. In April, President Trump told reporters he believed Iranians should rise up against their government if a ceasefire were reached, while acknowledging the danger such an uprising would pose to those who attempted it.
Plans for the Iranian deportations were first reported Thursday by The New York Times. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said last week that all deportees would be afforded full due process before removal.
The International Organization for Migration confirmed it has been asked by the CAR government to provide humanitarian assistance to migrants arriving in Bangui. An IOM spokesperson said the agency is not involved in carrying out the removals themselves and would offer support only “on a strictly voluntary basis and respecting applicable international standards.” Washington this year provided the IOM with $85 million for its operations in the Central African Republic.
The Central African Republic remains one of the world’s poorest countries, with most of its 5.5 million residents living in poverty amid recurring instability since gaining independence from France in 1960. Rwanda has maintained a troop presence there since deploying forces five years ago to help secure elections against rebel disruption, and President Faustin-Archange Touadera signed peace agreements with several armed groups earlier this year, helping ease violence in parts of the country.
By: Andrews Kwesi Yeboah