US Deports Asylum Seekers to Abusive Regime in Equatorial

The United States has deported at least 66 asylum seekers and migrants to Equatorial Guinea, a dictatorship with a decades-long record of torture and abuse. The U.S. Government paid Equatorial Guinea $7.5 million to accept these third-country nationals under an arrangement struck by the Trump administration.

Many deportees are from Angola, Cameroon, Eritrea, Cuba, and Brazil. They have no ties to Equatorial Guinea. Some had already won legal protection from removal to their home countries in U.S. Immigration courts. The Geneva-based Global Detention Project states they were instead sent to a nation many had never visited.

Firsthand Accounts of Torture

Two detainees separately described a severe beating to a legal team from EG Justice and the Equatorial Guinean Commission of Jurists. The incident occurred on September 11 at the Hotel Bamy in Malabo, a facility also used to quarantine a suspected Ebola case.

Ahmed Soliman, who moved from Egypt to Phoenix, Arizona, at age four, and an Eritrean detainee were bound with rope, hooded, and beaten with elbows, knees, and gun barrels. Security officers demanded to know where their phones were. One man was shoved down a staircase while still bound and hooded, then hauled back up by the rope as he screamed. A witness told the legal team it was the worst thing she had ever seen.

Another chilling encounter was described from late August. A military officer, believed to be a general, told a detainee, "You will disappear from the earth. I am the law." She now fears for her life daily.

Medical Neglect and U.S. Inaction

The deportees include survivors of war, persecution, and sexual assault. Some live with chronic illnesses like HIV or have serious mental-health conditions. They report not receiving necessary medications. For them, detention is a life-or-death situation with no court or meaningful recourse.

The legal team repeatedly contacted the U.S. Embassy in Malabo about the alleged torture and medical neglect. Their emails were ignored. A phone call yielded a response that the embassy could do nothing because the individuals were outside U.S. Jurisdiction.

The $7.5 Million Deal and Broken Pledges

The U.S. Payment to Equatorial Guinea has drawn scrutiny in Washington. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called it "highly unusual" and demanded an explanation from the State Department.

In an official note, the government of Equatorial Guinea pledged to treat deportees consistently with international law and not subject them to persecution or torture. The reported beatings directly violate that written assurance. Also, of the first 29 people deported, at least 17 have already been sent to countries from which U.S. Courts had blocked their removal. United Nations experts warn this creates an imminent risk of refoulement.

Dealing with a Condemned Regime

The deportation deal followed a visit to Washington by Equatorial Guinea's vice president, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue. His U.S. Visa required a special waiver. In 2014, he relinquished over $30 million in assets-including a Malibu mansion and a Ferrari-to settle U.S. Justice Department cases alleging he purchased them with corrupt proceeds. The Justice Department accused him of shamelessly looting his government while citizens lived in poverty.

The report, authored by EG Justice's director, states the U.S. Is now deliberately sending people into the custody of a government whose abusive record it has spent decades condemning. After paying millions, it asserts its responsibility ends once deportees leave U.S. Custody. The author concludes by asking the United States to hold itself accountable to the values of rule of law and human dignity it claims to represent.