Arístides Fernandez-Garcia, a Cuban immigrant, was deported from the United States to the Central African Republic after being arrested during an immigration hearing in Miami. Deported alongside him is Yasmany Noel Moreno-De Armas, another Cuban immigrant. Both men claim they were unaware of their destination and feel unsafe returning to Cuba due to political reasons. The Trump administration has deported over 25,000 people using the "third country deportation" policy, which a federal appeals court ruled violates due process in September.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-09,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
In Central African Republic, deported immigrants find themselves in limbo
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immigrants → deport → limbo
MIAMI — José Díaz, 85, had never asked his grand-nephew for a single thing.
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Díaz → ask → thing
But late last year, he noticed the baseball cap Arístides Fernandez-Garcia was wearing on his visit to New Jersey.
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Garcia → notice → Jersey
He liked it.
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He → like → it
Fernandez-Garcia promised himself that he'd give his great-uncle the cap after returning from a Miami hearing in his pending asylum case.
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he → promise → case
He never got the chance.
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He → get → chance
On Jan. 6 Fernandez-Garcia, a Cuban immigrant, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a targeted operation at the courthouse in Miami.
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Garcia → arrest → Miami
He told NPR that as he moved through a maze of detention centers across the U.S., losing 60 pounds and witnessing shocking violence, he held hard onto his promise.
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he → tell → promise
When his great-uncle got sick, Fernandez-Garcia called him from detention.
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Garcia → get → detention
"I would tell him: 'Stay strong, because I have to give you the hat,'" Fernandez-Garcia recalled.
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Garcia → tell → hat
The old man would laugh.
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man → laugh → ?
Eight months later, Fernandez-Garcia sits in the living room of an apartment in the Central African Republic.
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Garcia → sit → Republic
He feels torn: guilty for giving Díaz hope, but resolved, nevertheless, to keep his promise.
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He → feel → promise
"That is something I have to do in life before anything else happens to him," he says about his great-uncle.
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he → have → uncle
"I have to give him that hat."
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I → have → hat
Fernandez-Garcia is among the more than 25,000 people the Trump administration says it has deported to countries to which they have no ties.
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they → say → ties
On Sept. 18, a federal appeals court ruled this "third country deportation" policy violates due process.
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policy → rule → process
The court said migrants weren't given enough notice or a meaningful chance to say they were afraid to be sent to another country.
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they → say → country
On Sept. 24, the Trump administration appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court.
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administration → appeal → Court
In a statement to NPR, the Department of Homeland Security said "Third country removals are an essential public safety tool that remove the most dangerous criminal illegal aliens from our streets."
But NPR found no record of criminal charges in Florida against either Fernandez-Garcia or his roommate, Yasmany Noel Moreno-De Armas, who is also a Cuban immigrant deported by the U.S.
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who → say → U.S.
Fernandez-Garcia didn't have a deportation order either.
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Garcia → have → order
Both men say they don't feel safe returning to Cuba.
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they → say → Cuba
"I face punishment from the Cuban regime for having been a balsero — someone who fled Cuba by raft — and for trying to avail myself of the 'wet foot, dry foot' policy and enter the United States under that protection," said Moreno-De Armas.
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Armas → face → protection
DHS says people being deported to third countries receive "notice and assurances prior to their removal."
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people → say → removal
DHS added that ICE obtains diplomatic assurances from destination countries that once people are deported they will be safe after they arrive.
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they → add → countries
But both men said they didn't know where they were going when they boarded the plane in Texas.
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they → say → Texas
From his shared apartment in the Central African Republic, Fernandez-Garcia showed NPR how he sat on the plane for 12 hours, his hands shackled together and chained to a belt around his waist.
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hands → show → waist
It wasn't until they landed and he looked out the window, he says, that he saw a flag.
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he → land → flag
It was striped green, yellow and red, with a green star in the center.
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It → strip → center
That's the flag of Senegal, he realized.
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he → realize → Senegal
"My mind just went blank," said Fernandez-Garcia.
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Garcia → go → ?
"I went blank because I realized that my life was out of my hands, like I didn't have control over my own life anymore.
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I → go → life
I still don't."
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I → do → ?
The men say they don't feel safe in the Central African Republic, a country the State Department warns Americans not to visit, citing risks of kidnapping, landmines and terrorism.
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Department → say → kidnapping
The International Organization for Migration, a group affiliated with the United Nations, is providing protection for the deportees.
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Organization → affiliate → deportees
Armed guards accompany them whenever they leave the complex.
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they → accompany → complex
The IOM is also providing housing in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic.
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IOM → provide → Republic
The deportees live four to an apartment.
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deportees → live → apartment
Fernandez-Garcia and Moreno-De Armas share a bedroom.
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Garcia → share → bedroom
Their building neighbors a small market: low-slung buildings with concrete walls and corrugated-metal roofs.
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building → corrugate → walls
…and 71 more, not listed.
The Aporia
