A judge for the Southern District of New York has ruled that a deeper investigation is needed into the wrongful and abusive deportations of Cameroonians that occurred in 2020 and 2021. The judge said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) did not conduct proper investigations into the deportation of asylum-seekers back to Cameroon, where they said they faced a dangerous situation in their war-torn country. Advocates say the forced deportations, or “death flights,” are exemplative of the racist treatment Black migrants face in the U.S. from immigration authorities. The court is now instructing DHS and ICE to undertake new searches, a decision that advocates say underscores the critical need for accountability and transparency in the immigration process.
“They can’t keep sweeping under the rug the harsh reality of what they’ve done to Cameroonian asylum-seekers,” said Daniel Tse, an advocate with the Cameroon Advocacy Network/Haitian Bridge Alliance, in a statement. “And let’s not forget those who’ve been deported. They deserve protection, too.”
An NBC News report from 2020 explains that ICE officials used pepper spray and solitary confinement to coerce Cameroonians to agree to deportation. The Freedom of Information lawsuit was filed in October 2021 by the Center for Constitutional Rights, Project South, and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as part of an advocacy effort led by the grassroots coalition Cameroon Advocacy Network. The judge is now instructing DHS and ICE to conduct new searches in consultation with the plaintiffs.
“The initial records show a disturbing pattern and practice of anti-Black racism in the U.S. immigration system, but there is still much more to uncover,” said Luz Lopez, the senior supervising attorney for the SPLC. “This is why today’s court ruling is so important. We seek full transparency around the illegal deportation of Black migrants in 2021.”
Documents obtained by the plaintiffs in 2023 through a FOIA request reveal that U.S. government officials expressed racist attitudes toward Black migrants during the 2020 and 2021 flights. According to the documents, immigration officials treated their deportation as a sport and dismissed reports of abuse. In August 2023, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) lawsuit on behalf of two Cameroonians who were deported after enduring abuse. The case remains open.
“Cameroonian asylum-seekers came to the U.S. seeking protection but were instead met with confinement in immigration jails, discriminatory abuse, and unlawful deportations,” said Samah Sisay, an attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. “The government must stop avoiding accountability and provide the records requested to ensure these abuses never happen again.”
Despite the ongoing conflicts in Cameroon, ICE deported more than 90 Cameroonians on two deportation flights in October and November 2020. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), at least several dozen of those deported were denied asylum. In a follow-up report by HRW, they found that Cameroonian authorities subjected dozens of the same asylum-seekers to serious human rights violations. In 2020, 38.4% of Cameroonian asylum claims were denied. According to 2019 U.S. census data, more than 37,000 Cameroonian nationals could benefit from Temporary Protected Status (TPS), 51% of the total Cameroonian population in the U.S. at the time.
In 2022, the Department of Homeland Security finally designated 18 months of protected status for Cameroonian nationals in the U.S. through 2023, which was later extended until 2025. TPS will protect qualifying Cameroonians from deportation and allow them to receive work permits. Advocates say they are grateful for the designation, but more can be done to grant relief to a community whose home country is in the midst of war and a humanitarian crisis and for whom humanitarian parole is needed.
“Anti-Black racism compounds the endemic injustices of the U.S. immigration system,” said Azadeh Shahshahani, the legal and advocacy director of Project South. “ICE must not be allowed to continue its attempts to hide critical information about the brutality it inflicted upon Cameroonian asylum-seekers. Nothing short of full transparency and accountability is warranted.”
