ICE Deported A Gay Asylum Seeker Despite Having A Legal US Protection Order
As reported by Yahoo News, via The Associated Press journalist Monika Pronczuk, a 21-year-old Moroccan woman named Farah says she was deported from the United States to Cameroon, a country where homosexuality is illegal, despite a protection order from a US immigration judge.
What happened to Farah?
Farah told AP she fled Morocco after being beaten by her family, and her partner’s family, when they found out about their relationship. She says she and her partner made their way to the US border in early 2025 and asked for asylum.
Farah said she was later denied asylum, but in August she received a protection order that barred her deportation to Morocco because it could endanger her life. Then, three days before a hearing on her release, she says she was handcuffed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and placed on a flight to Cameroon.
In a rare on-the-record account from someone caught up in this policy, Farah told AP: “It is hard to live and work with the fear of being tracked once again by my family. But there is nothing I can do. I have to work.” She says she is now back in Morocco and living in hiding.
Why a “third-country” deportation matters
This case sits inside a wider push to deport people to countries that are not their home countries, even when they have legal protections in the US system. AP reports Farah is one of dozens confirmed to have been sent to third countries despite protection orders, though the full number is unknown.
Lawyer Alma David, who has helped deportees and verified parts of Farah’s case, called it a legal loophole, arguing people were not given a real chance to challenge being sent somewhere that could quickly return them to danger.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed there were deportations to Cameroon in January and said it was “applying the law as written,” also claiming third-country agreements “ensure due process under the U.S. Constitution.”
AP reports Cameroon is among at least seven African nations that have received third-country deportees, with some receiving millions of dollars in return. It also cites a Senate Foreign Relations Committee Democratic staff report saying the administration has spent at least $40 million to deport about 300 migrants to countries other than their own.
