Expulsions: More than 500 foreigners sent by the United States to six African countries, according to Human Rights Watch

The United States has expelled more than 500 third-country nationals to six African countries, Human Rights Watch (HRW) asserts in a 125-page report published on October 8, 2026. The countries involved are Cameroon, Eswatini, Equatorial Guinea, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan. None of these individuals were nationals of the state where they were dropped off.

The title of the report, "Scaring People," reflects the objective that an unidentified U.S. official attributed to this mechanism before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, according to the organization. HRW researchers interviewed 24 people who were expelled between February and July 2026, remotely and sometimes in person. The document includes two appendices, including responses from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Handcuffed during eighteen-hour flights

HRW describes passengers handcuffed and shackled on flights that can last more than eighteen hours, with little or no information about their destination. Access to care and medication varies depending on the country of arrival. Several people were placed in arbitrary detention once on African soil.

The case of Tesfay T., a 35-year-old Ethiopian, illustrates the mechanics described by the NGO: an immigration judge had granted him a stay of removal. He refused to sign a voluntary departure form for Chad; an agent from ICE, the U.S. immigration police, signed it in his place. The plane landed in Cameroon. The first documented flight, that of Billy H., a native of Southeast Asia, arrived in Eswatini on July 16, 2025.

African states at the end of the chain

At least twelve people were sent to countries where same-sex relations are criminalized; some had refugee status, according to HRW. The organization believes these removals violate the principle of non-refoulement—the prohibition on returning a person to a country where they risk persecution or torture—and deprive those involved of an effective remedy. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to examine the issue in December 2026; for now, it has allowed the administration to continue.

Michael Garcia Bochenek, interim director of the U.S. program at HRW, is calling on Washington to cease these expulsions to countries incapable of conducting full and fair asylum procedures, in the absence of formal and transparent agreements.

The NGO addresses a separate request to the signatory African governments: terminate or suspend these arrangements, respect non-refoulement, and do not detain anyone without a clear legal basis. This is where a question of sovereignty is at play: accepting, without a public treaty or guarantee, people whom another state wishes to remove.