Iranian woman among migrants deported from the U.S. to the Central African Republic

An arial view of Bangui, Central African Republic, is seen on March. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)

BANGUI, Central African Republic — An Iranian woman is among around two dozens migrants set to arrive Friday in the Central African Republic on a deportation flight from the United States, lawyers said, in the latest example of the Trump administration’s widely criticized deals with African and Latin American nations to take third-country deportees,

The Central African Republic, a deeply impoverished country plagued by conflict, is one of at least nine other African nations that has agreed to take third-country nationals deported by the U.S.

Under a series of often-secret agreements that are part of a broad U.S. crackdown on immigration, the Trump administration has deported thousands of people to nearly two dozen countries that are not their own, advocates say.

The Trump administration uses deportations to third countries as a legal loophole to indirectly force asylum seekers back to their home countries, immigration lawyers said.

It was unclear exactly how many migrants were on the deportation flight that left Louisiana late Thursday on the way to the Central African Republic’s capital Bangui.

Among those set to be deported Thursday were people from Iran, Jordan, Armenia, Turkiye, Georgia and Afghanistan, according to Ali Rahnama, the head of the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund, who has been in touch with some of the migrants.

Three Iranian women in the U.S. were originally scheduled to be sent to Central African Republic, according to Sahar Jalili Pawelski, one of their immigration lawyers, who said two of them received emergency court orders temporarily stopping their deportation while judges reviewed whether the government was acting legally.

All three had been granted court protection against deportation to Iran after judges ruled they faced credible fears of persecution on the basis of politics or religion, Jalili Pawelski and Rahnama both said.

An elderly Syrian man also was set to be deported to the Central African Republic but received an emergency temporary order halting his deportation, his lawyer Margaret Stock said.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Thursday would not comment on the case, saying it would not confirm future removal operations for security reasons. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Central African Republic has been plagued by years of conflict between pro-government forces and armed groups and is one of the poorest countries in the world. Despite vast reserves of gold, one in three people live on less than $2 a day.

It also is one of the countries where Wagner, a Russian mercenary group, was first active in Africa. The group has been responsible for President Faustin-Archange Touadéra’s security and fighting rebel groups.

The country is one Russia’s closest allies in Africa despite recent tensions between Touadéra and Russia after Moscow demanded Wagner be replaced with the Africa Corps operated by the Russian government.

Rahnama of the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund expressed concerns about an Iranian asylum seeker being sent to the Central African Republic, noting Russia’s influence in the country and Moscow’s close security ties with Iran.

Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writer Rebecca Santana contributed from Washington.

Jean Fernand Koena And Mark Banchereau, The Associated Press