US secretly deports migrants to African state – media

Eight people have been removed to Cameroon, following nine others flown there last month, according to several outlets

The US has secretly deported migrants to Cameroon, including people with no ties to the Central African nation and some who had legal protections against removal, according to multiple outlets.

A group of eight migrants arrived in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, on Monday, weeks after it emerged that nine others had been flown there in January under what officials described as a third-country deportation program, AP reported on Monday, citing lawyers.

None of the deportees are Cameroonian citizens, and several had reportedly been granted protection orders by US immigration judges because of fears of persecution in their home countries.

Earlier on Saturday, The New York Times reported that the nine migrants were flown from Louisiana to Cameroon without knowing their destination until they were placed in handcuffs and chains on a Department of Homeland Security aircraft.

Washington has not disclosed any public arrangement with Cameroon to accept deportees from other nations, and the Cameroonian government has not commented on the arrivals.

READ MORE: Eswatini received over $5mn from US to accept deportees – official

US President Donald Trump has pursued controversial agreements with several African states to host migrants that his administration deems ineligible to remain in the US.

Last November, Eswatini confirmed receiving $5.1 million from Washington in exchange for taking in deportees who have no ties to the southern African nation. Equatorial Guinea and Rwanda have each received $7.5 million from the Trump administration to accept non-citizens removed from the US, according to Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen. South Sudan, Ghana, and Uganda have all agreed to deals to host a number of deportees.

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A report released last week by Democratic staff on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said the US has spent more than $40 million through January 2026 on agreements with foreign governments to accept deportees. The report said the arrangements were reached through “opaque negotiations with little transparency to Congress or the public.” 

The African Union has warned member states to halt agreements that risk turning the continent into a “dumping zone” for arbitrary expulsions. UN human rights experts have also said the Trump administration risks violating the principles of migrant protection.

READ MORE: The great American offload: Did the US just find a new place to send its problems?

However, the Department of Homeland Security has defended the deportations as lawful and “essential to the safety of our homeland and the American people.”