More than half of the 15 Latin Americans deported from the United States to Congo in April have now returned to their home countries, a shift that leaves Adriana Maria Quiroz Zapata among the people still stuck there. Alma David, who represents several of the deportees, said eight have made it back in recent weeks, including four Peruvians and three Colombians who returned earlier this week with help from the International Organization for Migration.
The timing matters because the returns were reported on Friday, and they update one of the more unusual deportation arrangements carried out under the Trump administration’s crackdown on migrants. Congo is one of at least eight African nations that Washington has used for third-country deportation deals, part of a broader pattern in which thousands of people have been sent to nearly two dozen countries that are not their own, according to advocates.
The IOM said its Assisted Voluntary Return program helped the latest group leave, covering travel costs and logistics for migrants who consent to go home. David questioned how free that choice really was. "The fact that they chose to return there anyway raises serious concerns that they likely felt backed into a corner because no viable alternative was presented to them," she said. The organization describes the returns as "strictly voluntary and based on free, prior and informed consent."
Quiroz Zapata remains in Congo despite a federal judge ordering the Trump administration last month to bring her back to the United States. She was deported there even though Congo had refused to accept her because it could not care for her medical needs, a detail that has made her case stand out even among a group of migrants whose U.S. immigration judges said were likely to face persecution if sent home.
The Congolese government has said the departures are temporary and time-limited, and it expects more soon. "These developments confirm the strictly transitional, temporary, and time-limited nature of this mechanism, as announced from its launch," it said, adding that "Further departures will take place shortly as part of the implementation of the arrangement." One Colombian man has already returned on his own in recent days, but the status of the remaining deportees has not been fully explained, leaving open whether the rest will follow or whether some will remain in Congo under an arrangement that still appears to be unwinding.
