US deports migrants to Central African Republic, including Iranian activist

2026-06-13 18:09:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The US has deported a group of migrants to the Central African Republic (CAR), one of the poorest and most unstable countries in the world, under an agreement that allows Washington to send to third countries people who cannot be returned to their countries of origin.

The deportation flight departed from Louisiana on Thursday evening and arrived in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, on Friday. According to lawyers and migrant rights groups, about 24 people from various countries were on board, including Iran, Jordan, Armenia, Turkey, Georgia and Afghanistan. Among those deported was an Iranian pro-democracy activist who her lawyer said had fled persecution in her homeland.

According to ICE flight tracking data, the plane made a stop in Accra, the capital of Ghana, before arriving in Bangui. US authorities have not said where the deportees will be housed or how long they will be in the country.

Sources at the U.S. Embassy in Bangui told The Associated Press that some of the migrants were temporarily housed at a fire station near the U.S. embassy compound, while others were housed in different locations. According to the same sources, the men and women were separated immediately upon arrival.

The Iranian-American Legal Defense Fund (IALDF) said three Iranian women were facing deportation, but only one of them ended up on the flight. According to the organization, their asylum claims were denied because of a rule that required initial applications for protection in transit countries before arriving in the U.S. That rule was struck down by a federal court in California in May.

The Trump administration has signed several agreements with African and Latin American countries in recent years to accept people deported from third countries. These agreements have been widely criticized by human rights organizations, which consider them an indirect way of forcing asylum seekers to return to the countries from which they fled.

Immigration lawyers say many of the deportees had previously secured legal protection from US courts against repatriation. However, the US administration insists the agreements are legal and part of its policy to tighten controls on illegal immigration. /CNA