- U.S. authorities sent Latino migrants to the Central African Republic without passports or identification papers.
- Liberia said it would accept up to 1,200 third-country deportees from the United States in August 2026.
- Migrants in Liberia and Equatorial Guinea say they remain in legal limbo with no clear path to status.
U.S. immigration authorities have sent Latino immigrants to unfamiliar African countries, where some say they lack passports, identification documents, or lawful status. The arrivals include people with no personal ties to the places where they were sent. They describe being trapped in legal limbo.
Yasmany Moreno de Armas, a 32-year-old Cuban, said his new life in the Central African Republic feels like a “nightmare.” He said he had been left without documents or a clear path forward.
Aristides Fernandez Garcia, another Cuban deportee, described the group’s situation more directly.
“We don’t have a visa here or any papers, we are illegal,” Fernandez Garcia said.
Moreno de Armas and the other men said they arrived at the beginning of August. By late August, they had spent weeks stranded, without passports or identification papers. Moreno de Armas also said the U.S. government warns its own citizens against traveling to the country where he now lives.
The transfers are part of the Trump administration’s use of “third-country deportations.” The term refers to removal to a country that is neither the person’s country of citizenship nor a place where the person has personal ties.
The policy has sent people far beyond the countries where they were born. Human Rights First estimates that roughly 25,000 people have been deported to third countries during the Trump administration.
The removals leave different groups facing the same document problem
| Location or group | What the accounts describe | Immediate problem |
|---|---|---|
| Cuban men sent to the Central African Republic | Arrival at the beginning of August and weeks stranded by late August | Deportation without passports or identification documents |
| Latin American and African migrants sent to Liberia | Placement in a hotel in a remote coastal area | No return to the U.S. and fear of persecution at home |
| People taken to Equatorial Guinea after refusing to disembark | Detention in a former luxury hotel in Malabo | No clear route to lawful status |
The Liberian government said in August 2026 that it had agreed to receive up to 1,200 “third-country” deportees from the United States. The group included people from Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela, Cameroon, and Eritrea.
Officials sent the migrants to a hotel in a remote coastal area. The men interviewed there said they were “in limbo” and “stateless.” They could not return to the United States and feared persecution if they went back to their home countries.
The men were technically free to leave the hotel. They were also told not to travel far because of safety concerns.
Protection from home-country removal did not create a new status
Most of the deportees interviewed in the coastal country had won some form of protection in U.S. immigration courts. Those protections blocked removal to their home countries because of fears of persecution or torture.
They still did not hold permanent lawful status in the United States. That distinction left them vulnerable to removal elsewhere.
Relief from removal to a home country and lawful immigration status are separate issues. A person may avoid return to a country where persecution or torture is feared without receiving a permanent immigration status that authorizes continued residence in the United States.
That separation helps explain why some deportees describe themselves as effectively stateless. They have protection against one destination, but no established status in the country where U.S. authorities send them.
Liberian officials said migrants from Latin America and other regions could technically apply for asylum and permanent residency there. The deportees interviewed rejected that option, citing poverty, cultural and language differences, and the absence of family ties.
Refusal to disembark sent some men to another detention site
Some people who refused to leave the aircraft in Liberia were later taken to Equatorial Guinea. They remain held in a former luxury hotel converted into a detention center in Malabo.
Rubén Domínguez Alicante, a lawyer, said the detainees “cannot legally obtain a status there” because Equatorial Guinea lacks an asylum framework.
That transfer added another layer to the policy. People who declined one unfamiliar destination did not return to the United States or proceed to their home countries. Instead, they were moved to a separate African state and detained.
The Liberia account was published on September 15, 2026. The report on Moreno de Armas was published on September 16, 2026, and updated September 17, 2026. A related video segment aired on September 17, 2026.
The accounts also show how the policy has produced different forms of confinement. Some migrants remain in hotels and are warned against traveling far. Others are held in detention. Both groups say they lack a practical route to a stable legal status.
The cases raise questions about how protections won in U.S. immigration court operate when the government chooses a third country for removal. The reported protections prevented return to the men’s home countries, but did not necessarily prevent transfer to another country or guarantee admission there.
The developments remain part of a broader campaign to remove people to countries outside their places of citizenship. The men’s statements put the human consequences in concrete terms: missing documents, uncertain permission to stay, fear of persecution, and no clear way back.
This article provides general information and is not legal advice. Consult a qualified immigration attorney about your specific case.
