The United States has deported an Iranian pro-democracy activist to the Central African Republic, her lawyer said Friday, warning that the transfer placed her in serious danger in a country where she has no legal status, support network or personal connection.
The deportation took place on a flight that left Louisiana on Thursday night, lawyer Emily Trostle told Reuters. The plane was expected to travel to Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, via Accra, Ghana.
Trostle said the woman was one of three Iranian women previously identified by the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund as being at risk of deportation after fleeing persecution. One of the women had converted to Christianity. Trostle said only the pro-democracy activist was placed on the flight, though she did not rule out the possibility that the others could be deported later.
“They have absolutely no connection to this place,” Trostle told Reuters, describing the transfer as “super dangerous.”
She said the deportees were being removed from the United States and left in a country where they had no status, no ties and no support. Advocates fear they could ultimately be forced back to the countries they fled, including Iran.
The U.S. State Department and the presidency of the Central African Republic did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said last week that all deportees would receive full due process.
Ghana and the Central African Republic have signed agreements with the Trump administration to accept third-country deportees, including migrants whom U.S. courts have protected from being sent back to their home countries.
Washington says the arrangements are lawful. Rights groups and immigration advocates say the agreements are opaque and that many deportees could still end up being repatriated to places where they face danger.
The Iranian American Legal Defense Fund said the Iranian women had their asylum claims denied under a rule requiring asylum seekers to first apply in countries they passed through before reaching the United States. A federal court in California vacated that rule in May.
The group described deporting Iranians to the Central African Republic as a potentially fatal move, citing instability in the country and the risk that they could be sent back to Iran.
Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera signed peace agreements last year with several rebel groups. Other armed groups have been weakened by Russian mercenaries, Rwandan troops and U.N. peacekeepers deployed to support his government.
Ali Rahnama, interim executive director of the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund, said the Russian presence in the Central African Republic was especially worrying because of Moscow’s close intelligence ties with Tehran.
The deportation comes amid the three-month-old war with Iran, which began after the United States and Israel launched heavy strikes on the country in late February.
President Donald Trump said in April that he believed Iranians should rise up against the government in Tehran if a ceasefire were declared, though he acknowledged that doing so would be dangerous.
It was not clear how many people were aboard the first deportation flight to the Central African Republic. An official briefed on the matter said Thursday that about 20 people, including Syrians and Afghans, were expected to be deported on the flight. The official said hundreds of migrants could eventually be sent there under the agreement.