Eighteen migrants from countries including Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan and Egypt were flown from Alexandria Airport in Louisiana to Bangui, Central African Republic, on a deportation flight that reportedly cost around $1.2 million. Several migrants said they were handcuffed and shackled, and two said they refused to board and were forced into full-body restraints; a U.S. official denied allegations of beatings. Most had previously won protection orders from U.S. judges barring removal to their home countries due to risk of persecution, torture or death, but were sent to a country they have no ties to, where they now live in fear, facing malaria, extortion by local police and uncertainty after their visas expire. At least three flights have now delivered deportees to Bangui, a capital under a U.S. 'Do Not Travel' advisory amid civil war, a cholera outbreak and chronic power and water shortages, and migrants there say they have been confined under armed guard and stripped of identity documents, unable to leave; the flights are part of a broader U.S. policy that has sent more than 25,000 people to third countries, backed by roughly $500 million in foreign assistance to nations accepting deportees.