Diadie Camara told Reuters that he was detained at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2024 after escaping hereditary slavery in Mauritania. His asylum application was rejected in March, but a U.S. immigration judge granted him protection from being sent to Mauritania. He was instead deported to Equatorial Guinea, and by December 2025 he was among at least two people who had returned to Mauritania under duress. "I am now in hiding, and I don't know what to do," he said, adding that he is terrified the family that enslaved him will find him and punish him for his escape.