A new deportation flight from the United States has landed in Cameroon. But the deportees are not Cameroonians, and, according to their lawyers, have no ties to the country. 

The latest batch of migrants reportedly arrived in Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé, on Monday, 16 February, just weeks after nine other deportees were quietly sent there under Donald Trump’s controversial deportation policy. 

While nationalities of the latest deportees were not immediately clear, the first group included five women and four men from countries such as Zimbabwe, Morocco, and Ghana, according to media reports. 

Their lawyers, Alma David in the US and Joseph Awah Fru in Cameroon, told The Associated Press that the deportations of the migrants to Cameroon violated US court orders that granted them protection from being expelled. 

The White House has confirmed the latest flight but hasn’t shared details.

Secretive deals

Paul Biya’s Cameroon is not the only African country where the Trump government has sent third-country migrants. In past months, the US had sent expelled migrants to South Sudan, Rwanda, Ghana, Uganda, Eswatini, and Equatorial Guinea, including deportees that are not Africans. 

Such deportations, which are part of Trump’s crackdown on migrants, are carried out under controversial and often secretive deals with the US paying the receiving countries to take care of deportees who are not their nationals. 

A US Senate Foreign Relations Committee report estimates the Trump administration has spent at least $40 million to deport around 300 migrants to countries other than their own. 

The US State Department also said Eswatini would receive $5.1 million to take up to 160 third-country deportees. 

US convicts

Last year, five men from Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, Yemen, and Laos, convicted of serious crimes in the US, were deported to Eswatini. 

While most of the countries receiving deportees have not disclosed details, Ghana denied receiving payments for hosting deportees last year, saying its action was based on a "Pan-African" spirit. 

The US claims it’s enforcing immigration law, but deportees and campaigners argue it's a human rights violation, as some had fled safety concerns in their home countries, and their deportations do not follow due process. 

Host countries' citizens also fear that hardened criminals are often among deportees.