News & Reports
Reports and analysis on torture and refoulement from every region, with the source for each statement.
Armed Police Draw Weapons on People Held in Malabo, for the Second Time in Five Weeks
Reuters obtained footage from inside the Bamy Hotel in Malabo. It began when a man asked for the phone he needed to call his lawyer.
Internal Government Documents: More Than 100 People Sent to Eight African States, Many With No Criminal History
CBS News obtained internal United States government documents on the expansion of third-country removals. They record people sent to eight African states, and that many had no criminal history beyond immigration violations.
More Than 23,000 People Sent to Third Countries. Where They Went Is the Part That Matters.
Refugees International puts the total at more than 23,000 people sent to 26 countries. Almost 20,000 went to Mexico, and more than 330 to the whole of Africa. The breakdown changes what the number means.
They Refused to Leave the Plane in Liberia. Reuters Has Now Said Where They Went.
CBS News filmed twenty people landing at Roberts International Airport on 20 August and reported that some refused to leave the aircraft. Reuters has now reported where those people were taken.
She Won Her Case, and Was Deported Anyway: A Maryland Nurse Sent Through Ghana
On September 17, 2025 an immigration judge granted Rabbiatu Kuyateh withholding of removal to Sierra Leone, and both sides waived appeal. Forty-nine days later the United States flew her to Ghana without telling her where she was going, and six days after that Ghanaian officers dragged her out of a hotel and flew her to Sierra Leone.
Ghana Offered a Safe Haven. What the July 31 Flight Met Instead
Ghana's foreign minister said on camera in September 2025 that his country was offering itself as a safe haven to West Africans deported by the United States, and that those who arrived could stay ninety days. Ten months later a flight landed in Accra carrying more than thirty people, every one of whom held a United States finding that they could not safely be returned home. Within a day, some of them were.
Before Ghana, Djibouti: What ICE’s Own Declaration Says About U.S. Third-Country Removals
Four months before the deportation flights to Ghana, a court order stranded eight men on a United States naval base in Djibouti. What conditions were like there is not a matter of allegation. It is set out by the government itself, in a sworn declaration by a senior ICE official, and the Coalition publishes that declaration in full.
Law Societies in Uganda Challenge the Arrival of Twelve Men Transferred From the United States
Al Jazeera reported that twelve people transferred from the United States arrived at Entebbe on 2 April 2026, and that the Uganda Law Society and East Africa Law Society brought a court challenge.
Al Jazeera, 'Legal groups condemn arrival of a dozen deportees from US to Uganda', 2 April 2026.
Amnesty International Documents Continued Transfers to Eswatini Under US Removal Arrangement
Amnesty International has documented successive transfers of third-country nationals from the United States to Eswatini, where it reports the men are held at a maximum-security prison without ties to the country.
Amnesty International, 'Eswatini: Arrival of four more men under US unlawful removal deal', 11 March 2026; Amnesty International, 'Eswatini: Supreme Court ruling on legal access offers limited relief for US deportees', April 2026; Amnesty International, 'Eswatini: Fourth US third-country removal operation raises fresh human rights concerns', July 2026; Human Rights Watch, 'US/Africa: Expulsion Deals Flout Rights', 23 September 2025.
Federal Filing Details How People Sent Through Ghana Were Returned to Countries Where Judges Found Risks of Torture
A sworn declaration filed in D.V.D. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security describes two U.S. deportation flights to Ghana and alleges that people with CAT protection and withholding of removal were subsequently sent to countries where U.S. immigration judges had already found they faced persecution or torture.