U.S. Sends Cuban and Eritrean Immigrants to Conflict-Ravaged Central African Republic

Last year Yasmany Moreno de Armas, a 31-year-old Cuban who had been living and working in Florida, was arrested by immigration officials and spent about a year in ICE custody before being sent to the Central African Republic in late July. He arrived with other detainees from countries including Ecuador, Honduras, Serbia, Russia and Vietnam, and says he learned of his destination only after landing in Bangui. Eritrean native Zena Gebrgzabher, 39, who had previously won protection under the Convention Against Torture, was likewise deported to the same nation despite a court ruling that barred his removal to Eritrea.

Both men describe life in the landlocked, conflict-ridden country as precarious, with no ability to travel, no documentation, and separation from families in the United States. The State Department’s Level 4 travel advisory warns against visiting the Central African Republic due to widespread insecurity, Russian mercenary activity and political instability. The United States has secured agreements with over 30 nations, many of them African states, to accept third-country deportees as part of a broader crackdown on illegal immigration initiated under the Trump administration. Officials from the Department of Homeland Security have not responded to inquiries about the specifics of the agreement with the Central African Republic.