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Deportees Who Refused to Exit a US Flight in Liberia Are Sent to Equatorial Guinea
Five migrants refused to leave a deportation flight to Liberia and were sent onward to Equatorial Guinea, where they remain detained.
On Thursday, six migrants deported from the United States to Liberia refused to disembark, prompting authorities to send them to Equatorial Guinea instead; the group included four Cubans, a Brazilian, and a Cameroonian.
Under 'third-country' agreements, the Trump administration has deported thousands of people to two dozen countries as part of its immigration crackdown, citing legal grounds for the practice.
Refusing to leave the aircraft, the group stated Liberia was "not their country" and feared danger; upon arrival in Malabo, some were reportedly in chains, detained at a hotel under a $7.5 million deal with President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
Yoon reported the six are held with around 40 other migrants in a hotel lacking medical staff, where conditions have worsened with food withheld and guards accused of threatening, beating, and choking detainees.
The Department of Homeland Security stated the migrants were "deported to a safe third country," yet former ICE adviser Claire Trickler-McNulty called the move "highly unusual," noting that group refusal followed by onward diversion is unprecedented.