U.S. Secured Secret Deal With Cameroon to Deport Migrants, Using Aid as Leverage: Report

A secret agreement between the United States and Cameroon to accept deported migrants was secured using financial and diplomatic pressure, according to government documents reviewed by The New York Times.

The deal, reached this winter, involved withholding $30 million from a United Nations refugee program in Cameroon and remaining silent on a deadly post-election crackdown by President Paul Biya's government, officials told the outlet.

Internal correspondence reviewed by The New York Times also suggest U.S. officials believed that silence would strengthen their negotiating position. A Cameroonian official described the arrangement as "blackmail," while a deportees' lawyer likened it to "selling people."

The agreement formalizes a policy that had already been taking shape earlier this year. In January, several migrants were flown from the United States to Cameroon despite having no ties to the country, with some saying they were unaware of their destination until they were placed on flights in handcuffs and shackles.

One deportee told reporters they were "dropped like U.P.S. packages" in Yaoundé, where they were held in a government compound and told they could not leave unless they agreed to return to their home countries.

Additional deportation flights arrived in Cameroon in February, and lawyers said many of those removed had received U.S. court protections preventing their return to their home countries due to risks of persecution.

Journalists investigating the program were detained by Cameroonian authorities in mid-February while visiting the compound, with officials confiscating equipment and citing concerns over "sensitive information." One lawyer described the arrangement to the Associated Press as a "legal loophole" allowing deportations to countries that may ultimately send migrants back to danger.

Individual cases underscore the risks faced by vulnerable migrants. A Moroccan woman who had received a U.S. protection order barring her removal to her country of origin told the Los Angeles Times on February 23 that she was instead deported to Cameroon, a country she had never visited and where same-sex relations are also criminalized. She said officials asked if she wanted to stay; she refused, fearing for her safety, and was then sent to Morocco.

According to congressional findings, at least $40 million has been spent deporting roughly 300 migrants to third countries, with some governments receiving payments or other incentives.