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YAOUNDE: Ayana was deported to Cameroon from the United States where she had legally lived nearly all her life and now faces uncertainty, far from her family in an unfamiliar country.<\/p>\n
Born in a refugee camp in Sudan, she arrived in the US aged two and is among hundreds of people, including with legal protection, deported to African countries over the last 18 months.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was given a map and they told me, \u2018You\u2019re in Cameroon\u2019, I said, \u2018What the heck is Cameroon?\u2019 I didn\u2019t even know,\u201d she told AFP.<\/p>\n
Ayana — whose name AFP has changed for security reasons like all those interviewed for this story — has been caught up in US President Donald Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown, which involves shipping people that the US cannot legally send home to \u201cthird countries\u201d.<\/p>\n
Cameroon is part of a growing list of African countries willing to accept US deportees that includes Eswatini, Equatorial Guinea and Liberia.<\/p>\n
For the first time since arriving in late May, Ayana summoned the courage to go out and sat in a bar in the capital, Yaounde, sipping white wine and chain-smoking.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a bit afraid to go out,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The 40-year-old has no memory of Africa and home is San Diego, California, where she studied business and became a nursing assistant and mother, she said.<\/p>\n
Several of her family serve in the US military.<\/p>\n
About 50 people — from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Angola, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Senegal, Zimbabwe and Morocco — have arrived in Cameroon since January.<\/p>\n
– Shackled –<\/p>\n
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents picked up Ayana as she went to renew her residence permit.<\/p>\n
On the flight to Cameroon, her hands and feet were shackled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve been treated like a slave,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel like my rights have been violated throughout the entire process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ayana had an Eritrean mother and an Ethiopian father who fled the war between their two countries and were admitted to the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m stateless,\u201d she said. \u201cSince I\u2019m not Sudanese, I have no birth certificate, so… I can\u2019t go there,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t go to Ethiopia since I wasn\u2019t born there or Eritrea either.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even if she had agreed to be sent to one of these countries, deadly conflicts are raging in them and she would likely have fallen foul of not having documents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re really not welcome here,\u201d she said. \u201cThey are just trying to make you tired so that you wanna go back to your country.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we cannot because our life is in danger there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cameroonian authorities are pressuring deportees to accept a return programme offered by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody here was granted relief by a judge from the US. Their fear was credible,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
However, the Trump administration argues that although it cannot send people back to their home countries, nothing prevents it from sending them to third countries.<\/p>\n
– Unknown destination –<\/p>\n
Peter, a 51-year-old Kenyan country music fan whose son is in the US Navy, spent 25 years in Dallas, Texas, and only found out where he was going \u201chalfway through the flight\u201d.<\/p>\n
Anthony, a Zimbabwean in his forties, was picked up by the ICE last year after crossing the Mexican border at the end of a long, dangerous trek through central America.<\/p>\n
To find peace, he spends most of his free time reading the Bible.<\/p>\n
All those interviewed by AFP recounted a similar story of violent deportation to an unknown destination, poor living conditions and abandonment.<\/p>\n
Ayana said everyone arrived with just the clothes on their backs. Phones and passports were confiscated.<\/p>\n
The IOM has provided hygiene products but they are insufficient, the people say, while medical care is extremely limited.<\/p>\n
There is no psychological support and almost all of the deportees have contracted malaria. Peter was even in hospital for three days on respiratory support.<\/p>\n
– Forced return? –<\/p>\n
Some deportees have already been sent to their home countries or other states, despite the risk of mistreatment.<\/p>\n
Two partners from Morocco have been living in hiding since their return.<\/p>\n
Fru Joseph Awah, the deportees\u2019 lawyer, took the issue of forced returns to a Cameroon court, arguing that it broke international law and should be suspended immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cCameroon is not going to give us the opportunity to stay here and make a life here. They did it for money,\u201d Ayana said.<\/p>\n
An AFP investigation revealed that Washington offered deals worth millions of dollars and threatened visa restrictions to push third countries to accept.<\/p>\n
Anthony and Peter have had interviews with the UN refugee agency, which could grant them refugee status, although Cameroon may still choose not to accept.<\/p>\n
Others have received a summons for an interview in April next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am feeling stuck here, hopeless,\u201d whispered Ayana, clinging to the idea that a new US administration in 2028 may permit her return home.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n