CNN International sent a correspondent to the Central African Republic to find the people the United States had transferred there. Isobel Yeung described what she found on Democracy Now! on 1 September 2026.
Update, 5 November 2026. Transfers to the Central African Republic have continued since this interview. Third Country Deportation Watch records a fourth flight, on 23 October 2026, and states that “nationals of Cuba, Venezuela, Türkiye, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Iran and Nicaragua were among the 78 third country nationals removed to CAR.” ICE Flight Monitor reported that the flight “landed in Bangui, Central African Republic (CAR) at 3 am local time (10pm ET), marking the 4th forced third country transfer there.” The tracker does not say how many of the 78 were Iranian. The dated record, including the differing counts of Iranians on the flight of 29 August, is on the Central African Republic guide. Sources: Third Country Deportation Watch, Central African Republic, updated 26 October 2026 · ICE Flight Monitor, 24 October 2026
Amy Goodman interviews Isobel Yeung of CNN International, who travelled to the Central African Republic to find the people the United States transferred there.
Checked 12 September 2026Watch and read the transcript at Democracy Now!
The people she met came “from Afghanistan, from Iran, from Iraq, from Jordan”. They are “stuck inside these apartment buildings, unable to go out”. The Central African Republic “has given them three-month visas” and nothing beyond that, so nobody knows what happens on the ninety-first day. Many “did not know where they were going to until they stepped foot on the flight”.
And the point that makes this a pattern rather than an incident: “the majority of them that we spoke to, have been given these court protection orders by U.S. judges, which means that they cannot be deported back to their home countries”.
Set that against the sending state’s own advice about the destination. The United States Department of State tells American citizens not to travel to the Central African Republic at all. The advisory is Level 4, Do Not Travel, issued 15 January 2026, on grounds of unrest, crime, kidnapping, landmines, health and terrorism, and it records that the United States government has limited ability to help its own citizens there. The Coalition has read that advisory. It is a United States government document.
The United States tells its citizens not to go to this country for any reason, and sends other people there.
Recorded as still being investigated. CNN’s own written report of this reporting, of 29 August 2026, is disallowed to automated retrieval and was not read. It has not been worked around. Everything attributed to the correspondent above is taken from the Democracy Now! interview, which the Coalition read in full. The dated record for this state is on the Central African Republic guide.