Federal Judge Allows ICE Deportation of Asylum-Denied Migrant to Third Country

Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated during a Cabinet meeting after President Trump's first 100 days back in office: "We are working with other countries to say, 'We want to send you some of the most despicable human beings to your countries. " Deportees with and without criminal records have been sent to countries including Ghana, Cameroon, South Sudan, and El Salvador.

U.S. Judges' rulings affirming risks of torture or persecution there. The DRC, one of 28 countries accepting third-country deportees, provided diplomatic assurances that those sent there would not face persecution or torture, according to ICE via court records. On April 17, a group of 15 South American deportees arrived in the DRC, per a government announcement written in French.

The announcement stated the arrangement is strictly transitory, temporary, and limited in time. U.S. troops, to the DRC, as The New York Times reported.

Yugar-Cruz, who fled South America, was originally on the manifest for the mid-April deportation flight to the DRC, but his federal court case delayed it. Since the start of 2025, ICE unsuccessfully tried to remove Yugar-Cruz to Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Mexico, and Canada, court records show.

His attorney, Alison Griffith, said her team requested ICE send him to a Spanish-speaking country closer to home, but ICE refused.

"I was starting to live in freedom, but they detained me again," Yugar-Cruz said. "I lost my mother while detained. I can't help my children. I'm here detained. " ICE agents have not given him a departure date.

The Department of Homeland Security deported about 15,000 people to third countries between January 20 and December 31, 2025, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Of those, 13,000 went to Mexico. DHS stated in early December it had deported more than 605,000 people since President Trump returned to office.

In June 2025, the Supreme Court lifted a stay on removals in a class-action lawsuit over third-country practices. A district court ruled in February this year that DHS's practices were unlawful, but the ruling was stayed pending appeal. The judge in Yugar-Cruz's case cited the Supreme Court's ruling in denying his motion, describing it as all but fatal to his claim.

"I still have faith that maybe some miracle could happen in my case and that they would give me my freedom again," Yugar-Cruz said. "I am grateful to all those people who helped me," he added, referring to Iowa-based advocates who rallied around him during his release months. He said they filled the empty space left by his mother's death.