The Trump administration covertly deported nine individuals to Cameroon, even though many of them had US court protections preventing such deportations, and none of them was from that African country, according to a report by the New York Times.
Many of these men and women sent to Cameroon on a flight from Alexandria, Louisiana, on 14 January did not know their destination until they were put on a Department of Homeland Security flight and placed in handcuffs and chains, the publication said, citing government documents and attorneys for the deportees.
The Trump administration has not announced any agreement under which Cameroon has agreed to accept deportees from other countries.
Ruling on halting temporary deportations
A federal judge on Thursday halted the Trump administration from terminating temporary deportation protections that enabled hundreds of South Sudanese nationals to live and work in the US District Judge Patti Saris in Boston ruled that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem likely acted unlawfully by giving a “pretextual” reason for ending South Sudan’s Temporary Protected Status and failing to reveal the true motive, Reuters reported.
This status is available to individuals whose home countries have faced natural disasters, armed conflicts, or other extraordinary events. It grants eligible migrants work authorization and temporary protection against deportation.
In November, Noem published a notice terminating TPS for conflict-ridden South Sudan, saying the country no longer met the conditions for the designation, which was first issued in 2011.
Saris stated that the notice did not recognize the true reason behind Noem’s action, and she had consistently followed a “preordained pattern and practice” of terminating TPS designations for all countries.
Appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton, Saris said that since Noem took office, the US Department of Homeland Security has moved to end TPS designations for 11 other countries, including Haiti, Venezuela and Ethiopia.
“It is highly likely that no country will pass muster, no matter how dire its conditions,” Saris was quoted as saying.
The ruling was issued in a lawsuit brought by a group of South Sudanese nationals and the non-profit organization African Communities Together. An earlier judge in the case had delayed the termination of TPS for South Sudan to give Saris more time to hear the case.
