DAKAR/NAIROBI,( news agency) – The Trump administration plans to deport a number of Iranians and other migrants to Central African Republic, a chronically unstable country racked by violence and poverty, two lawyers and an official briefed on the matter told Reuters.
The Iranians include two women who face potential torture and persecution if they are forced to go back to Iran, their lawyer, Emily Trostle, said. One is a Christian convert and the other is a pro-democracy activist, she added.
The U.S. State Department and the presidency in the Central African Republic — which recently reached a deal to accept so-called third-country deportees from the U.S. — did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Both the women were detained upon arriving in the U.S. in November 2024, Trostle said. They applied for asylum in the U.S. and had secured a form of protection known as withholding of removal from a U.S. immigration judge, Trostle said.
Obtaining that protection meant judges found they faced a risk greater than 50% of being persecuted or tortured in Iran.
The official briefed on the matter told Reuters the first flight to Central African Republic under the deal was expected to take about 20 people, also including Syrians and Afghans. The plane could leave as early as Thursday, the two lawyers said.
