The U.S. government has deported dozens of foreign nationals to the Central African Republic (CAR) as part of an immigration enforcement strategy involving third-country agreements. Among those sent to the nation in late July were individuals from Cuba, Eritrea, Ecuador, Honduras, Serbia, Russia, and Vietnam. The deportees reported they were not notified of their specific destination until they arrived in Bangui, the capital of CAR.
The Central African Republic is currently classified by the U.S. State Department as a Level 4 travel advisory destination due to widespread insecurity, armed conflict, and political instability. The nation is one of more than 30 countries that the U.S. government has reportedly reached agreements with to accept deportees who are not citizens of those countries. These agreements are often utilized for individuals whose home countries limit U.S. deportations or those who have legal protections preventing their return to their specific homelands.
One deportee, Yasmany Moreno de Armas, a 31-year-old Cuban immigrant previously living in Florida, stated he was arrested in May 2025 and held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for a year before his removal. Another, 39-year-old Zena Gebrgzabher from Eritrea, had previously won protection under the Convention Against Torture, which barred his return to Eritrea but did not legally prevent his removal to a third country. Gebrgzabher had been living in Maryland with his wife and son, both U.S. citizens, prior to his arrest during a regular ICE check-in.
The scale of this program involves more than 30 countries, including several in Africa that the State Department identifies as having active armed conflicts or human rights concerns. In specific cases like those reported, families are separated across continents; for example, the Maryland-based family of a former truck driver now faces the indefinite absence of a primary provider. The deportees in Bangui reported they are currently unable to leave the country because they lack identification documents and formal status within the Central African Republic.
This strategy sets a precedent for how the U.S. handles immigrants with "withholding of removal" status, which protects them from their home country but not from third-party nations. It allows the Department of Homeland Security to clear backlogs of detainees who have exhausted other legal avenues. What happens next depends on the status of these international agreements; the Department of Homeland Security has not yet disclosed the specific terms of the agreement with the Central African Republic or what benefits that nation receives in exchange for accepting deportees. Individuals currently in ICE custody with similar legal statuses may face similar third-country removals as additional flights are organized.