Judge orders U.S. government to return Arizona man deported to Equatorial Guinea
A U.S. judge has ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the release and return of an Egyptian man who was deported to Equatorial Guinea this year and has since been jailed there.
Trump-appointed judge's order concerns Ahmed Soliman, a gay man from Arizona
Thomson Reuters
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has become a central tool in U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to deport millions of undocumented migrants, but as CBC’s Jonathan Montpetit explains, that’s not what the agency was originally designed to do.A U.S. judge has ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the release and return of an Egyptian man who was deported to Equatorial Guinea this year and has since been jailed there.
Ahmed Soliman is one of hundreds of migrants sent from the U.S. to African countries under so-called third-country deportation deals that the U.S. government has used to accelerate removals.
Last month, Soliman said he had faced rough treatment by Equatorial Guinean police officers. Video obtained by Reuters showed police pulling firearms on a group of migrants including Soliman at the Hotel Bamy in Malabo, where migrants were being held.
After Reuters published its story, Soliman was taken into custody and has been held incommunicado at a police station that has also been used to detain human rights activists.
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In a ruling seen by Reuters on Thursday, U.S. judge John C. Hinderaker said the Department of Homeland Security must facilitate Soliman's release from custody and his return to the U.S. That includes arranging any travel documentation he would need to return, the judge appointed by President Donald Trump said in his order.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Equatorial Guinea has also not responded to requests for comment about Soliman's case.
DHS said after the hotel incident that it wasn't responsible for the treatment of individuals outside of the U.S. The department has said in court filings it received assurances from Equatorial Guinea that deportees would be safe there.
Democrats condemn payments to Equatorial Guinea
Soliman, 31, wrote in a declaration to an immigration judge last year that he feared being killed in Egypt because he is gay.
According to court documents and published reports in Arizona, where he resided, Soliman came to the U.S. at the age of four with his family on a religious visa.
An incident between police in Equatorial Guinea and individuals is shown on Sept. 5 at the Hotel Bamy in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, in a video obtained by Reuters and verified with archival imagery of the hotel. The men being confronted by police were migrants deported from the U.S. (Reuters)
He jeopardized his legal status as a lawful permanent resident in 2021 when he drove a vehicle while under the influence of fentanyl. He was sentenced to over two years in prison for charges including aggravated assault, a charge brought if someone suffers injuries as a result of the accident.
In 2024, DHS began removal proceedings for Soliman, but late last year did not appeal a court ruling that a hearing should be held on whether his fears of persecution were credible. He was deported in April before either that hearing or his challenge to his Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention were heard.
Human Rights Watch said in a report that between January 2025 and August 2026, 536 people had been deported to African countries "that are neither their country of citizenship nor habitual residence."
Reuters has documented 40 of those cases in which migrants granted U.S. legal protection after being persecuted for their LGBTQ status were deported to third countries in Africa that either criminalize same-sex relations or have been described by the State Department as hostile to LGBTQ people.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, in a letter last year to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, condemned what she called a "stark departure" in U.S. foreign policy, referring to a $7.5-million payment to Equatorial Guinea from the State Department's account for migration and refugee assistance.
"This highly unusual payment — to one of the most corrupt governments in the world — raises serious concerns over the responsible, transparent use of American taxpayer dollars," the New Hampshire Democrat wrote.
Supreme Court to weigh in on 3rd-country practice
U.S. governments under both parties have long tried to adhere to the principle of not sending persons to countries where they are at risk of cruel and inhumane treatment, including torture.
The second Trump administration is carrying out expansive plans for the deportation of individuals not authorized to be in the country. Democrats and human rights and immigration activists have highlighted cases in which they say due process has not been afforded to deportees, and others in which lawful residents or even U.S. citizens have been targeted in immigration enforcement operations.
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More than 25,000 migrant overall have been deported to 29 countries not of their origin since last year, human rights activists have said. UN human rights experts commissioned by its Geneva-based Human Rights Council late last month called on the U.S. to stop the third-country practice.
"These migrants are being transferred to countries or territories with which they have no ties, which can be a traumatizing and isolating experience that compounds harms already suffered which triggered their fleeing to the U.S. in the first place," they said in a statement. Those most at risk, they added, were those who could be targeted due to gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or human rights advocacy.
U.S. Supreme Court justices will hear arguments in December over the Trump administration's policy of deporting migrants to nations other than their own. The court on Sept. 29 let the administration continue the policy for the time being, putting on hold a federal judge's ruling that removing migrants to third countries is unlawful.
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