US reportedly plans Iran deportations to Central African Republic
The Trump administration intends to deport several Iranians and other migrants to the Central African Republic, a country plagued by chronic instability, violence, and poverty, according to two lawyers and an informed official.
The Iranians include two women who face potential torture and persecution if they are forced to go back to Iran, their lawyer, Emily Trostle, said. One is a Christian convert, and the other is a pro-democracy activist, she added, News.Az reports, citing News.Az
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The US State Department and the presidency in the Central African Republic, which recently reached a deal to accept so-called third-country deportees from the US, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Both women were detained upon arriving in the US in November 2024, Trostle said. They applied for asylum in the US and had secured a form of protection known as withholding of removal from a US immigration judge, Trostle said.
The official briefed on the matter told Reuters the first flight to the Central African Republic under the deal was expected to take about 20 people, also including Syrians and Afghans. The plane could leave as early as Thursday, the two lawyers said.
Another source familiar with the preparations said one Turkish national was also expected to be deported.
The Trump administration has used third-country deportation deals, including with the Central African Republic's neighbor, the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is now facing an Ebola outbreak, to deport people it can't legally send home.
Washington has defended the deals as lawful, though rights groups and advocates have said the details of the deals are opaque and many of the deportees are ultimately repatriated.
The US and Israel launched heavy strikes on Iran in late February, kicking off a now three-month-old war.
US President Donald Trump told reporters in April that he thought the Iranian people should rise up against the government in Iran if a ceasefire were declared, but understood that it was too dangerous for them to do so.
By Ulviyya Salmanli
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