Latin American Nationals Deported by US to Congo Remain in Limbo

One 29-year-old Colombian woman told the Associated Press she was deported despite a U.S. immigration judge's order protecting her from return to Colombia. She arrived in Congo on April 17 after a nearly 24-hour flight during which her hands and feet were restrained.

The woman had left Colombia in 2024 after threats from armed groups and abuse by a former partner who worked for the government. She crossed into Mexico and presented herself at an Arizona port of entry in September 2024, where officials found she had a credible fear of persecution.

A federal judge granted her protection under the U.N. Convention Against Torture in May 2025, according to court documents. She was released from detention in February after filing a habeas corpus petition but was detained again at her first check-in appointment with immigration officials in Texas.

Less than three weeks later she was informed she would be sent to a third country and placed on a flight to Congo the next day. She said she was told about the destination only the day before departure and nearly fainted upon learning it.

The group is confined to a hotel near Kinshasa's airport with locked gates and security that prevents unaccompanied departures. A United Nations-affiliated group supervises the deportees, allowing outings about once a week to shop or withdraw money but only while accompanied and with staff never out of sight.

The woman said staff choose where the group goes and what they buy. At the hotel the group receives organized activities including painting, music and volleyball though many have stopped participating. The Colombian woman spends most of her time in her room, calling her 10-year-old daughter in Colombia at night.

She reported that the food has caused ongoing stomach ailments and that local languages are unfamiliar. The woman faces a choice between returning to Colombia, where a U.S. judge ruled she cannot safely be sent, or remaining in Congo with no support after her three-month visa expires.

She said she does not feel safe in Congo. It was not immediately clear what effect a new U.S. court ruling finding that authorities likely broke the law by deporting another Colombian to Congo would have on her situation.

Congo is one of at least eight African countries that have reached agreements with the Trump administration to accept third-country nationals for deportation. Most of the deportees had received legal orders of protection from U.S. judges preventing their return to home countries.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has stated that such agreements ensure due process. The Trump administration has said the agreements are necessary to remove individuals whose countries of origin will not accept them back. Details of Congo's specific agreement remain unclear.

Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi described the arrangement as an act of goodwill with no financial compensation involved. The woman remains in limbo while the hotel stay, funded by the Congolese government, continues for now.