Human Rights Watch documented that between January 2025 and August 2026, the United States expelled more than 500 people to African countries that were not their countries of origin, including Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Ghana, and South Sudan. One case involved a 35-year-old Ethiopian man who had been imprisoned and tortured at home and was granted 'withholding of removal' by a U.S. immigration judge after being denied asylum, but was deported to Cameroon anyway after an ICE agent signed his voluntary departure form when he refused; he described being shackled for more than 18 hours during the flight. Interviewees reported being restrained in full-body 'wrap' devices, given little information about their destinations, and denied adequate food, water, or medication. At least a dozen LGBT people, including refugees previously granted protection in the US, were sent to countries that criminalize same-sex conduct. Some deportees faced arbitrary detention in the receiving countries, while others were sent onward to the home countries they had originally fled, risking persecution or torture.