Full Breakdown
UN Appeal to Equatorial Guinea Over US Third-Country Deportations
5/14/2026, 10:46:38 PM
UN Appeal and US Third-Country Deportations
On 14 May 2026 United Nations human-rights experts appealed to Equatorial Guinea to stop sending United States deportees to their home countries. The appeal follows a plan in which United States paid US $7.5 million to Equatorial Guinea and other states to receive migrants barred from returning home. United States has deals with 25 countries to relocate migrants.
Esther’s Experience
Esther, granted “withholding of removal” in US, fled her country in 2024 after arrest and torture. After 14 months in immigration detention she was arrested during an ICE check-in, placed on a plane to Malabo without prior notice, and confined to a hotel lacking soap, clean clothes, medication and hygiene. She says she would be jailed if expelled back to her home country.
Official Statements
UN warned that “states must ensure that no one is returned… to a situation where their life, freedom or physical or mental integrity would be in danger.” Department of Homeland Security spokesperson defended the policy as “utilizing all lawful options to carry out the largest deportation operation in history, just as President Trump promised.”
Criticism
Call Equatorial Guinea “a highly repressive authoritarian state” unsuitable for asylum seekers. Tutu Alicante, director of Equatorial Guinea Justice, warned that migrants transferred there lack legal status. Bella Mosselmans, director of Global Strategic Litigation Council, described the practice as an expansion of a system that outsources cruelty and erodes protections for people seeking safety in the US.
Key Data
At least 28 people have been sent to Equatorial Guinea. United States has deals with 25 countries and paid $7.5 million to fund arrangement. Nine deportees received temporary travel documents before onward expulsion, and 250 Venezuelan nationals were later detained in El Salvador after a similar transfer.
Conflicting Reports & Gaps
Sources cite “dozens” of deportees in one passage and “at least 28” in another, showing a discrepancy. US government has not disclosed criteria for third-country destinations nor assured safety for transferred individuals.
Verbatim Quotes
- “States must ensure that no one is returned, directly or indirectly, to a situation where their life, freedom or physical or mental integrity would be in danger,” — UN human-rights experts
- “Equatorial Guinea should never be treated as a safe country for migrants or asylum seekers. This is a highly repressive authoritarian state,” — Tutu Alicante, Equatorial Guinea Justice
- “I have cried. I have struggled. I have done everything,” — Esther
- “The Trump Administration is utilizing all lawful options to carry out the largest deportation operation in history, just as President Trump promised,” — U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson
What’s Next
Global Strategic Litigation Council and partner NGOs are filing legal challenges to stop further third-country transfers and to secure asylum for those already in Equatorial Guinea. United Nations has urged Ghana to halt similar removals and monitors situation for violations of international law.
