Concerns raised over deportation of LGBT migrants to hostile regions

The United States government has deported dozens of migrants who were granted legal protection due to persecution based on their LGBT status to third countries where they face potential criminalization or hostility. Documentation indicates that at least 40 individuals, including people from across Africa, Iraq, Jamaica, and Russia, have been sent to nations that either criminalize same-sex relations or are characterized by the U.S. State Department as unsafe for LGBT individuals.

One documented case involves Abdou Latifou, a Togolese national who fled his home country after being assaulted and threatened for his sexual orientation. Although a U.S. immigration judge ruled in November that it was unsafe for him to return to Togo, Latifou was placed on a deportation flight in June. Instead of being returned to his home country, he was sent to Sierra Leone, a nation where colonial-era laws allow for life imprisonment for gay men.

These deportations have been facilitated by agreements between the U.S. administration and various foreign governments. Under these arrangements, migrants are sent to third countries rather than their nations of origin. The process has affected thousands of individuals, with the specific subset of LGBT migrants facing unique risks upon arrival in their new, often hostile, environments.

An investigation into these cases, involving interviews with deportees and legal counsel alongside a review of hundreds of pages of legal documentation, confirms that 16 of the 40 identified individuals remain in the countries to which they were deported. The reports highlight a disconnect between the initial U.S. findings that these individuals required protection from persecution and the subsequent administrative actions that placed them in jurisdictions where they continue to face significant legal and personal danger.