Reporter Reportedly Gets Beaten, Has Equipment Seized While Covering Undisclosed U.S. Deportation Program to Cameroon

An Associated Press reporter was beaten by police and detained along with three other journalists Tuesday in Cameroon while reporting on a previously undisclosed U.S. program that deported migrants to the African country, according to testimony provided to The New York Times by two people who were held.

The journalists and a lawyer representing detained migrants were seized at a state-run compound in Yaoundé where they had been interviewing deportees. They were taken to judicial police headquarters, separated and questioned, said lawyer Joseph Awah Fru and freelance journalist Randy Joe Sa'ah, who was among the detained.

Sources told The Times that some were held for hours, and the AP reporter appeared to have been assaulted. All five were later released, but authorities confiscated their phones, cameras and laptops, saying they had recorded sensitive information. It was unclear whether any charges were filed. Cameroon's Justice Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

The compound has been identified as a detention site for migrants deported from the United States, including individuals who are not Cameroonian citizens. According to government documents and interviews with lawyers, most had received protection orders from U.S. courts barring their removal to their home countries because they could face persecution.

Several deportees said they were pressured by local authorities to return to their countries of origin or risk indefinite detention.

Lawyer Alma David told AP on Monday that a separate deportation flight carrying additional third-country nationals arrived in Yaoundé that day. She and Fru said they believed there were eight people on board and that they were providing legal advice to some migrants deported last month, most of whom had protection orders.

David described deportations to third countries as a legal "loophole," while Fru said the migrants were not sent directly home "because there is cause for concern that they might be harmed."

A White House official confirmed a second flight to AP but declined to provide details. The State Department said it would not comment on "diplomatic communications with other governments," adding that implementing immigration policies is a priority. The Department of Homeland Security said it is "applying the law as written" and described third-country agreements as essential to national security.

Documents indicate the United States has pursued dozens of such agreements and spent at least $40 million deporting roughly 300 migrants to countries other than their own. Some governments have received payments to accept them. "The state cannot prevent the public from knowing where they are keeping deportees who are not even citizens," Fru said. "That goes to the whole idea of shady deals in the dark."