In Cameroon, deportees from the US challenge agreement — France 24
In Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, migrants whom the United States deported to a country where they had not previously lived are staying in a temporary state shelter. Cameroonian lawyer Joseph Ava Fru has filed a lawsuit on behalf of some of the deportees, seeking to suspend the agreement between Washington and Yaounde. This was reported by France 24.
The shelter houses people from nearly a dozen African countries, including Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe. Barbara, an Ethiopian woman, said that she fled Tigray due to persecution, reached Brazil at the end of 2024, and later headed toward the US border. She was detained and placed in an immigration center in Louisiana.
A US court granted her withholding of removal status — legal protection that prevents a person from being deported to their country of origin because of the risk of persecution. At the same time, this status does not preclude removal to another country that US authorities consider safe. According to France 24, Barbara was flown to Cameroon on April 28, 2026.
Agreement with third countries
According to an investigation by France 24, RFI and the Forbidden Stories consortium, the administration of US President Donald Trump concluded more than 35 agreements with so-called third countries in Africa and Latin America. These agreements facilitated the deportation of more than 25,000 people. They are used for individuals who cannot be returned to their country of origin but can be sent to another state.
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The only publicly available document concerning Cameroon is an exchange of diplomatic notes from December 2025, which the US State Department released in June. In it, Washington and Yaounde agreed to arrange the transfer to Cameroon of certain third-country nationals who had been in the United States. Cameroon committed to treating them in accordance with international law and preventing persecution or torture on its territory or in the event of further transfer.
Lawsuit and conditions at the shelter
On August 5, Ava Fru filed a lawsuit with the Yaounde Administrative Court on behalf of 36 migrants deported to Cameroon between January and May 2026. He is seeking the suspension of the agreement with the United States, citing risks of persecution and torture for the deportees.
The deportees say that US authorities confiscated their passports. Soraya from Ghana said that after their arrival, residents were initially not allowed to leave the center, and after a hunger strike they were issued documents valid for two months. According to the lawyer, the people are provided with housing and food, but they have no money and their freedom of movement is restricted.
A source close to the Cameroonian government told France 24 that the migrants are being well received and have met with representatives of ministries, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and the International Organization for Migration. At the same time, Soraya, who left Ghana after her family learned about her sexual orientation, said she cannot safely return home. In Cameroon, same-sex sexual acts are punishable by up to five years in prison.
