Trump's deportation push forces dozens of LGBT migrants onto hostile terrain
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push → force → terrain
DAKAR, Oct 5 - Two years ago, a mob assaulted Abdou Latifou and threatened to kill him after he was seen kissing the man he loved.
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he → assault → man
He fled his home in the West African nation of Togo and sought refuge in the United States, according to his asylum application.
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He → flee → application
Latifou rejoiced last November when a US immigration judge ruled it was not safe for him to be sent home.
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him → rejoice → ?
“I told myself, ‘From this day on, I’m entering a world where I’m free to live as myself,’” he said.
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he → tell → myself
In June, though, Latifou was forced onto a US deportation plane — not back to Togo but to Sierra Leone, a nation where gay men can be sentenced to life in prison under colonial-era laws.
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men → force → laws
President Donald Trump's administration has deported tens of thousands of people to third countries, enabled by deals with impoverished foreign governments.
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administration → deport → governments
Latifou's case is one of 40 documented by Reuters where migrants granted US legal protection after being persecuted for their LGBT status were deported to third countries in Africa that either criminalize same-sex relations or have been described by the State Department as hostile to LGBT people.
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that → document → people
Reuters has tracked the fate of all 40 – including people from across Africa, as well as Iraq, Jamaica and Russia – by interviewing a dozen deportees and immigration lawyers and reviewing hundreds of pages of legal documents.
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Reuters → track → documents
Sixteen remain in the countries they were deported to and some are still detained.
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some → remain → countries
Sixteen others, like Latifou, were repatriated to their home countries against their will.
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others → repatriate → will
One Ghanaian man is no longer in contact with his lawyers or relatives, they said.
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they → say → lawyers
Sending people “to a third country where they face the very persecution we recognized makes a mockery of our protection systems,” said Claire Trickler-McNulty, a former senior US immigration official.
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McNulty → send → systems
Immigration and Customs Enforcement "does not enforce the law on the basis of sexual orientation, that would be illegal,” Chandler Rebel, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, ICE's parent agency, said in a statement.
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Rebel → enforce → statement
But since he returned to office and began a wide-ranging immigration crackdown, more than 40,000 people in total have been deported to countries not their own by ICE and Border Patrol, according to preliminary government data shared with Reuters, far higher than previous estimates from advocates.
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people → return → advocates
About 900 were sent to African countries.
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900 → send → countries
In a February order, in a case challenging the policy, US District Judge Brian Murphy highlighted the risks facing gay people.
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Murphy → challenge → people
The government’s claim that those targeted had not explicitly asked not to be deported to repressive third countries was an “absurdity,” he wrote.
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he → target → countries
“No person could reasonably be expected to make detailed, prophylactic claims about every country on Earth to which she might have a valid claim against removal.”
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she → expect → removal
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court put a hold on Murphy's ruling, allowing the administration to continue third-country deportations.
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administration → put → deportations
The court will hear arguments in December.
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court → hear → December
The 40 cases documented by Reuters involve deportations to three countries that explicitly criminalize same-sex sexual acts: Sierra Leone, Cameroon and Eswatini.
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that → document → acts
In three other countries that do not have such laws on the books -- Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo -- the State Department has previously documented abuses against LGBT people, including “corrective rape” and conversion therapy.
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Department → have → rape
Government spokespeople for the six countries did not respond to requests for comment.
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spokespeople → respond → comment
Bridget Crawford, director of law and policy at Immigration Equality, an LGBT advocacy group, said the US has repeatedly granted asylum to LGBT people from these countries.
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US → say → countries
Her group has helped 12 Cameroonians and one person from Congo win asylum in recent years.
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Cameroonians → help → years
But more than half of the 40, including Latifou, were not eligible for asylum because they did not apply for it in countries they passed through before illegally entering the US.
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they → include → US
This was disqualifying under Biden-era restrictions that a federal court vacated in May.
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court → vacate → May
The judge in Latifou's case granted a lesser protection, barring the government from deporting him to Togo but allowing his removal elsewhere.
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judge → grant → removal
After being flown to Sierra Leone, Latifou said he was held for two weeks in a hotel under police surveillance.
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he → fly → surveillance
Guards then put him on a flight back to Togo.
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Guards → put → Togo
He arrived with a few items of clothing and $100 to his name.
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He → arrive → name
He traveled to his village to see his mother, but a relative soon warned him that he was not safe and helped him cross the border to Benin.
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him → travel → Benin
He continued on to Ivory Coast, where he lives with a friend and works as a security guard.
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he → continue → guard
Same-sex relations are not illegal in his new home, but Ivorian activists have reported rising homophobic violence, and Latifou avoids the Togolese community, “so I don’t get recognized.”
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I → report → community
“When an individual is no longer in ICE custody then ICE will no longer be responsible for them," Rebel, the DHS spokesman, said.
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Rebel → say → them
Many of the deportees who spoke to Reuters said they wound up wherever someone would take them in.
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someone → speak → them
A bisexual Ghanaian woman was deported to Cameroon in January and remained there for seven months.
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woman → deport → months
Unable to speak French, the primary local language, and fearing for her safety if she returned to Ghana, she went to live with a relative in northern Nigeria, where penalties for same-sex sexual acts can include lashes or death by stoning.
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penalties → speak → stoning
Most days she does not leave the house, she said.
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she → leave → house
…and 7 more, not listed.
The Aporia
