Unprecedented: the US deportees forcibly flown to a fourth country

In late August, around 20 people were put on a flight in the US, shackled at the wrists, waist and ankles, and sent to Liberia as part of one of the largest third-country deportation arrangements of Donald Trump’s second term.

Although more than 23,000 people have been sent to 26 countries other than their own since last year, that day saw something that had not happened before: six people refused to get off the plane – and were instead taken to another country.

Four Cubans, one Brazilian and one Cameroonian refused to disembark in the Liberian capital Monrovia on 20 August; some of them were allegedly assaulted by ICE agents, who returned them to the plane and promised they would be taken back to the US.

A few hours later, however, they were dropped off in another African country: Equatorial Guinea, one of the world’s most repressive and corrupt regimes, where armed men took them to a former luxury hotel turned detention centre in the capital, Malabo, where they have been held ever since.

Meredyth Yoon, the litigation director at Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta, said: “It’s the first time I’ve heard of people being deported to a third country, refusing to disembark, and then being hastily deported on the same flight to a fourth country.”

The lawyer, who is in close contact with the group, said they were put on the flight without agreeing to, or even knowing they were being sent to Liberia, let alone Equatorial Guinea.

She said they are now being held in “horrific conditions of confinement”, unable to leave the hotel or even contact their families, watched by armed guards, with restricted access to food and no access to basic hygiene items or medical care.

Yoon said: “Their families are terrified, deeply concerned about their safety. They haven’t done anything wrong, and they’re being held against their will without knowing what will happen to them.”

Although deportation by the US to a fourth country appears to be unprecedented, nearly 60 other people, mostly Africans from other countries, have been deported directly to Equatorial Guinea since November.

The country remains far behind Mexico, the main destination for third-country deportees, which has received more than 19,000 people, but Equatorial Guinea has received more than any other country in Africa so far. The agreement with Liberia provides for the transfer of up to 1,200 people.

The flights to Equatorial Guinea are part of a deal secured by vice-president Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, known as Teodorín, the son of the dictator Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the world’s longest-ruling head of state, who has been in power for nearly half a century.

Teodorín, who has faced criminal proceedings in other countries over money laundering and corruption, had been barred from entering the US. In France, he was tried in absentia and convicted of money laundering, embezzlement of public funds and corruption in 2017, with the conviction upheld by an appeals court in 2020.

Investigations by the US Senate and the Department of Justice (DoJ) concluded he used bribery and extortion to fund a wild spending spree in Equatorial Guinea, and he eventually reached a settlement to avoid trial.

However, the US state department granted him a one-month waiver so he could attend the UN general assembly in New York last year.

He then travelled to Washington and secured the third-country deportation deal, under which the US would pay his government $7.5m (£5.5m).

Tutu Alicante, founder and executive director of the Washington-based NGO EG Justice, said: “For Teodorín, as someone who is about to replace his father as president, having the US on his side is much more important than the money.”

The flights to Equatorial Guinea are part of a deal secured by vice-president Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, who has faced criminal charges over money laundering and corruption. Photograph: Caitlin Ochs/Reuters

Alicante has also been closely following the situation of about 30 deportees currently being held at the Bamy hotel, owned by Mbasogo’s family and which sits inside an isolated, walled compound heavily patrolled by armed soldiers.

“The conditions they’re being held in are inhumane,” said Alicante. “We’re talking about individuals who have not committed a crime in the US, and they’re locked up 24/7 in small rooms, and many have been deprived of food and water for considerably long periods.”

The Guardian exchanged text messages with one of the Cubans who arrived in late August, who said they were “very saddened” and “desperately hoping to draw attention to what is happening to us, in the hope that someone with the power to help will take pity on us”.

He soon stopped responding, however, because guards had confiscated all the phones to prevent the deportees from speaking to media outlets.

Among them is a man with a large ventral hernia who, after resisting landing in Liberia, was allegedly thrown down the aircraft steps by ICE agents. Last week, he told the Spanish newspaper El País he urgently needed reconstructive abdominal surgery but, when he was taken to a hospital in Malabo, was allegedly denied treatment because he had no documents.

“They cannot legally obtain a status there because Equatorial Guinea doesn’t have a legal framework for asylum, so they’re in this limbo,” said Alicante.

The deportees face two options: indefinite detention at the hotel or being sent back to their countries of origin, as has already happened to almost half of those who have arrived since November.

However, according to the monitoring project, Third Country Deportation Watch, many of these individuals had previously been granted withholding of removal by US immigration judges who found that they faced a real risk of persecution, torture or death in their home countries.

Immigration lawyers have said the Trump administration is using third-country deportations as a legal loophole to indirectly force asylum seekers back to their home countries.

A spokesperson for the US Department of Homeland Security said: “All of these illegal aliens were deported to a safe third country. 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 Trump administration is utilising all lawful options to carry out the largest deportation operation in history, just as President Trump promised.”

The governments of Equatorial Guinea and Liberia did not respond to requests for comment.

Last May, UN human rights experts urged Equatorial Guinea to stop sending US deportees back to their home countries, but, as the Guardian has learned, the practice has continued, with at least four Ethiopians sent back to Ethiopia last Wednesday.

“This is happening in Equatorial Guinea, in Eswatini, Sudan, Ghana, Liberia; in so many places where they are sending mostly innocent people who have not committed a crime in the US. This is unconscionable,” said Alicante.