Over Half of Latin American Migrants Deported to Congo Have Returned Home

DAKAR, Senegal — More than half of the 15 Latin Americans deported to Congo in April under the Trump administration’s heavily criticized migrant crackdown have returned to their home countries, according to the Congolese government and a lawyer, who said this on Friday.

U.S. immigration judges have determined that these individuals are likely to face persecution if they return home.

Congo is among at least eight African nations that have entered into third‑country deportation agreements with the United States.

Through a series of largely secret agreements, the Trump administration has deported thousands of people to nearly two dozen nations that are not their own, according to advocates. Immigration lawyers argue that these deportations serve as a legal loophole to indirectly compel asylum seekers to return to their home countries.

Alma David, a U.S.-based attorney representing one of the 15 migrants, reported that eight deportees have returned to their home countries in recent weeks.

Her client, a Colombian woman who described her conditions and uncertainty while in Congo during an interview with The Associated Press, remains in the central African country, she said.

Colombian national Adriana Maria Quiroz Zapata remains in Congo, despite a federal judge ordering the Trump administration last month to return her to the United States. She was deported to Congo despite its refusal to accept her because of her medical needs.

Four Peruvians and three Colombians returned to their home countries earlier this week, assisted by the International Organization for Migration, a United Nations‑affiliated agency, David said.

They returned through the IOM’s Assisted Voluntary Return program, under which the organization covers travel costs and logistics for migrants who consent to go back to their home countries, providing an alternative to forced deportation.

The lawyer said the migrants have been granted protection from removal to their home countries by U.S. federal courts, which ruled that they faced a likely risk of persecution if returned.

“David said, “The fact that they chose to return to their home countries anyway raises serious concerns that they likely felt cornered because no viable alternative was presented to them.”

The IOM stated that assisted voluntary returns are “strictly voluntary and based on free, prior, and informed consent.”

A Colombian man returned to his home country on his own in recent days, David said.

The Congolese government said these developments confirm the mechanism’s strictly transitional, temporary, and time‑limited nature, as announced at its launch. “Further departures will occur shortly as part of the arrangement’s implementation,” the statement added.

The announcement coincided with rights lawyers filing a case against Equatorial Guinea before Africa’s top human rights body, accusing the central African nation of forcibly returning U.S. deportees to their home countries in violation of their rights.

Source link