US Deportations to African Nations Violate Human Rights, Rights Group Claims

HRW calls US deportations to African countries unlawful and cruel.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has released a report accusing the U.S. government of unlawfully sending over 500 migrants to non‑citizen African states since the 2025 election of Donald Trump. Many deportees have no realistic chance of staying elsewhere and are thrust back into conditions that could threaten their life or well‑being.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security describes these third‑country removals as a necessary tool to rid the country of dangerous illegal aliens. However, HRW argues that the policy is designed to intimidate and deter future migrants.

HRW’s findings detail numerous abuses: deported individuals were chained for long periods, denied basic medication, and often did not receive adequate food or water during transit. In several cases, migrants were sent to countries where they faced arbitrary detention or outright persecution—violating the international principle of non‑refoulement.

Among the countries listed were Eswatini, Ghana, South Sudan, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Reports from those nations are scarce, as none have responded to the report.

One HRW interviewee, a former US lawyer, revealed that the administration’s approach aimed to “threaten people by dropping them in the middle of nowhere.” The lawyer warned that such tactics “make it clear that supporting our migration policy requires causing human suffering.”

HRW’s interim U.S. programme director, Michael Garcia Bochenek, said that migrants sent to nation‑states that criminalize same‑sex relationships are at particular risk. He added that the practice erodes international human‑rights law.

In a related incident, a Nigerian man reported fear after being secretly transferred from the U.S. to Ghana and then to Togo. He feared persecution upon eventual return to Nigeria.

HRW notes a high rate of return to home countries among those sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Senegal, questioning whether those returns were truly voluntary.