More than half of the 15 Latin American migrants deported by the United States to the Democratic Republic of Congo in April under the Trump administration's third-country deportation program have now returned to their home countries, despite prior U.S. court rulings finding they were likely to face persecution there.
The Congolese government and immigration attorney Alma David confirmed Friday that at least eight of the deportees have left Congo in recent weeks through the International Organization for Migration's Assisted Voluntary Return program, which covers travel and logistical arrangements for migrants who consent to return home.
Among those who returned earlier this week were four Peruvians and three Colombians, David said while another Colombian reportedly returned independently. Two Colombian women remain in Congo, including Adriana Maria Quiroz Zapata, whose case has become one of the most closely watched legal challenges to the administration's deportation policy.
In May, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon ordered the Trump administration to return Quiroz Zapata to the United States, ruling officials likely violated federal law by deporting her to Congo after authorities there had reportedly informed U.S. officials they could not accept her because of medical conditions including diabetes and hypothyroidism.
"The fact that they chose to return there anyway raises serious concerns that they likely felt backed into a corner because no viable alternative was presented to them," David said.
The deportations were part of a broader Trump administration effort to expand third-country removals through agreements with several African nations. Congo is among at least eight African countries that have entered such arrangements with the United States.
When the group arrived in Kinshasa in April, attorneys representing the migrants said all 15 had legal protections preventing their removal to their home countries because immigration judges had determined they could face persecution or torture there.
Several deportees later described harsh and uncertain conditions in Congo. Speaking to Noticias Telemundo shortly after arriving, Colombian nationals Jorge Cubillos and Carlos Rodelo said they were staying in a hotel under an International Organization for Migration program and were effectively unable to leave despite being told they were free.
"We are prisoners, with the freedom to have a phone and technology, that's it," Rodelo said at the time.
Lawyers and migrant advocates have argued that the administration's use of third-country deportations places pressure on asylum seekers to abandon protections they had previously obtained in U.S. courts and return to countries they originally fled.
