Original Date Announced

AP News reports that, according to a letter from Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) to Secretary of State Rubio, the Trump administration made a $7.5 million payment to the government of Equatorial Guinea in exchange for the country agreeing to accept third-country nationals from the United States. The payment allegedly used funding from the Migration and Refugee Assistance account and constitutes the first government-to-government transfer from that account. The letter also raises concerns about corruption, human trafficking, and human rights abuses in Equatorial Guinea.

Third Country Deportation Watch provides detailed updates on this agreement.

Trump 2.0 [ID #2073]

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2026.08.08 Reported: U.S. Deportees Face Armed Assaults and Indefinite Detention in Equatorial Guinea - Arizona Daily Star

The Arizona Daily Star reports that dozens of immigrants deported by the administration to Equatorial Guinea are being held indefinitely in a decommissioned hotel despite having no ties to the country and, in many cases, U.S. immigration judges’ orders protecting them from removal to their home countries. Three detainees said that they were dragged from their rooms at gunpoint, handcuffed, assaulted, and warned they would be shot if they left the hotel; they also report restrictions on access to lawyers. The United States has sent about 40 people to Equatorial Guinea since November 2025 pursuant to its third-country agreement; at least 17 people have subsequently been returned to their home countries.

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2026.09.18 Reported: A Central African Hotel Has Become a Nightmare Prison for U.S. Deportations - New York Times

The New York Times reports that two men deported to Equatorial Guinea were hooded, bound, beaten with firearms, and shoved down stairs by local police at a remote hotel operating as a de facto prison for 29 immigrants. The beatings and subsequent arrests were carried out to silence detainees who had been using cellphones to expose worsening conditions to journalists and lawyers. Although judges had barred these immigrants from being sent to their home countries due to severe risks of torture, they were transferred without legal status to Equatorial Guinea, where detainees now face indefinite confinement and violent retaliation from local authorities.