US: Deported Cameroonian Asylum Seekers Suffer Serious Harm

“Pierre,” A Cameroonian man, shows the still-healing injuries on his legs in 2019, following over two months of detention and torture he said the Cameroonian military subjected him to in the South-West region, before he fled to the United States to seek asylum. “[The military] were beating me every day... [on] my legs with a baton and cutlass [machete]... they said I was giving information... to the Ambazonians [separatist fighters],” Pierre said. The US government deported him back to Cameroon in 2020. © 2019 Private

202201africa_cameroon_deportation_flight

Cameroonians in handcuffs descend from a US deportation flight arriving in Douala, Cameroon, October 14, 2020. The flight reportedly carried 57 Cameroonians. Another deportation flight in November 2020 carried an estimated 20 to 30 Cameroonians. The majority of those deported had sought asylum in the United States. © 2020 Private

An October 15, 2020 issue of The Guardian Post Daily, a Cameroonian newspaper, alleged that people deported from the US were “supposed supporters of the Ambazonia separatist movement.” Human Rights Watch research indicates that many Cameroonians denied asylum and deported from the US in October and November 2020 had credible asylum claims. Those interviewed said they had never supported armed separatist groups. Negative media coverage amplified the risks deported asylum seekers faced. © 2020 The Guardian Post Daily

Asylum seekers deported from the United States sit handcuffed at a court in Douala, Cameroon, in November 2020. At least one man was subsequently informed of criminal charges apparently related to having sought asylum, for “having, in the United States, spread false news... by declaring to be a victim of abuses by the Cameroonian Government [...].” © 2020 Private

A Cameroonian man, “Paul,” denied asylum by the United States and deported in October 2020, recovers at a medical clinic after military personnel assaulted him at home in Cameroon’s South-West region in January 2021. “Four military guys... started beating me... They said, ‘You were deported from America?... You are the ones sponsoring the Amba fighters [armed separatists],’” Paul said. © 2021 Private

Uniformed officers stand near a police vehicle

A patrol of Cameroonian gendarmes during a political rally in Buea, South-West region, on October 3, 2018. Alleged perpetrators of abuses against people deported from the United States included some members of the police, gendarmerie, and military, among other officials and state agents. © 2018 Marco Longari/AFP/Getty Images

A Cameroonian woman, “Marie,” denied asylum by the United States and deported in October 2020, recovers at a medical clinic after assault and arbitrary detention by members of the Cameroonian security forces in the North-West region, in early 2021. Marie said that officers or soldiers she could not identify beat her after stopping her at a checkpoint. “They said, ‘Here’s the Ambazonian... destroying the name of the country,’” Marie said. “They used some whip...on my neck and back... I fell on the ground. They... kicked me...[and] pressed their boot on my face and jaw...the pain was too much.” © 2021 Private

Side-by-side photos of men holding up signs from inside a detention center

A person holding a protest sign that reads "Stop Deportations to Danger"

Daniel T., coordinator of the Cameroon Advocacy Network, an immigrant rights coalition, holds a sign calling for a halt to US deportations to Cameroon and for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Cameroonians in the US, due to widespread safety risks in Cameroon. © 2021 CASA

Protecting Rights, Saving Lives