Latin American deportees face uncertainty in DR Congo under US deal

For eight years, Jorge Cubillos worked to build a new life in the United States after fleeing threats in his native Colombia.

He said he had a work permit and was granted protection from deportation under Article 3 of the UN Convention Against Torture (CAT).

But Cubillos was suddenly placed on a flight to the Democratic Republic of Congo, some 10,700 kilometers (6,700 miles) away from his wife and four children in Florida.

“I never thought I would end up in Africa. I thought they were just threats,” he told BBC Mundo.

Speaking by telephone from his hotel room in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, he said he has no idea what the future holds.

Cubillos is one of 15 migrants and asylum seekers from Colombia, Peru and Ecuador deported from the United States to the central African country last month.

While U.S. authorities said they were deported because they were in the country illegally, some told the BBC their asylum applications were pending and they had the right to stay.

They are the first to arrive in DR Congo under a controversial agreement with third countries signed by President Donald Trump’s administration.

His promise of mass deportations was central to his re-election campaign.

Another deportee, Carlos Rodelo, said he only learned of his final destination hours before the flight took off.

“When they told me they were sending me to the Congo, I told them I didn’t even know what that was or where it was.”

He said he spent eight months in detention in Louisiana before being deported, despite a court previously ruling he could remain in the country.

The Trump administration has defended its deportations to other so-called third countries as lawful and mutually beneficial.

But a federal judge last week ordered U.S. authorities to bring back one of the women sent to DR Congo, saying her deportation “was likely illegal.”

DR Congo said it agreed to accept migrants from third countries because it was committed to human dignity, migrants’ rights protection, and international solidarity.

The country is embroiled in a decades-long conflict, although fighting is on the other side of this vast nation, 2,700 kilometers (1,700 miles) away.

Last year, the United States brokered a peace deal between DR Congo and Rwanda, which is accused of backing rebel forces in its giant neighbor.

The Congolese government said the migrants’ stay is temporary and that their care and support is being paid for by the United States.

The BBC has asked the U.S. State Department for comment.

The migrants and asylum seekers interviewed by BBC Mundo said conditions are unacceptable, with frequent power cuts and lack of drinking water.

“We have fever, vomiting and diarrhoea. They tell us it’s normal and our bodies are just adapting to Africa,” Cubillos told the BBC shortly after arriving.

They have now been in the same hotel for a month but said little has changed and they are still getting sick.

“We have not been given any information about how long we will be here or when we will be leaving. We’re constantly ill and don’t want to eat the food provided, as it makes us feel worse. Our health is deteriorating. We’re receiving medical assistance, but it isn’t enough,” Cubillos said.

The mid-range apartment hotel where they are staying is on the outskirts of Kinshasa, near the international airport in the Mikindo district, one of the poorest in the city.

However, the deportees can use its football pitch, tennis court and an Olympic-sized swimming pool. At least two police officers stand guard outside, and the BBC was denied permission to enter.

One staff member told the BBC they have sometimes played football with the deportees.

“I was worried about them being criminals. But, with time, I have come to understand that they are just like our own citizens, also trying make a living outside the country.”

“They are all good people and they have started picking up a few words in Lingala [the main language in Kinshasa],” the staff member said.

Pressed by the BBC about the swimming pool and other facilities, Cubillos said that although from the outside it might look like they are living well, that was not the case. “We’ve only used the pool once, on a really hot day. Most of the time, we’re stuck in our rooms.”

He added that, stuck in an unfamiliar country thousands of miles from home, where the main languages are French and Lingala and few people speak English or Spanish, there is just “nothing to do.”

“We spend our days shut in, alone with our thoughts, our problems, and the constant worry about what’s going to happen to us.”

Despite being told they were free to leave the premises, the Latin American deportees said that is not the reality, and even if they could, there is “nowhere to go anyway.”

The group said they have been allowed out just a few times, accompanied by security guards, to see parts of the city or go shopping.

All of those sent to DR Congo deny committing any crimes in the United States.

Marta—whose name has been changed for fear of reprisals—said the “lack of information” and not knowing what will happen is also affecting them “emotionally and psychologically.”

She told BBC Mundo she was detained less than two months after being released under a supervision order in February, after a long legal battle during which she spent 14 months in detention. She said she has never been accused of anything other than contravening immigration laws.

When U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents showed up at her Texas home to verify her address and take her to an immigration office to be fitted with a GPS monitor, she did not suspect anything—until they put handcuffs on her.

Marta described being held in solitary confinement for almost two days at one point.

“They locked me in a room. They didn’t give me food or water. It was very cold,” she said, adding that her family did not know where she was.

After being vaccinated against yellow fever and transferred to Louisiana, she was told she had a flight to DR Congo the next day.

Human Rights Research Institute (IRDH) director and human rights lawyer Hubert Tshiswaka said the agreement between DR Congo and the United States breaks international commitments on refugee protection.

“There is no legal basis to bring people from other countries to the Congo, especially from the United States,” he told BBC Mundo.

Marta said there is a lot of “misinformation” online, with some calling them criminals who “deserve what’s happening,” but “that’s not right.”

According to Tshiswaka—and the group—they have done “nothing wrong here, so there is also no legal basis for holding them in detention.”

BBC Mundo has contacted ICE for comment.

“Here I am, in the Congo,” Marta said. “How do I feel now? I feel that our human rights have been violated.”

“We feel completely adrift. We don’t know what’s going to happen to us.”

Even the journey to Kinshasa was “inhumane,” the group said.

“We spent more than 25 hours tied at the waist, hands, and feet, with a paper bag that had an apple, some chips and a bottle of water inside,” Cubillos said. “It was terrible.”

Rodelo said that a Maryland judge granted him protection under the UN Convention Against Torture (CAT) in February 2025.

Months later, when he was summoned to an immigration office to sign documents, he was detained.

“Three ICE agents were literally hiding, waiting for me,” he explained.

When he told them he had approved asylum and CAT protection, Rodelo said: “They told me they were taking me one way or another.”

During his detention, he said he filed additional protection requests but was deported before a federal judge could rule on them.

According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Rodelo had been issued a “final order of removal for violating the terms of his parole” in February, the month he said he was granted CAT protection.

“[The] Trump administration is utilising all lawful options to carry out the largest deportation operation in history, just as President Trump promised,” the statement said. “Anyone who has been deported received full due process.”

One Colombian woman who asked to remain anonymous said she is unsure she would ever want to return to the United States, where life has become “scary.”

“After everything that’s happened and everything I’ve suffered, who can assure me that I won’t go through this again and that in the future they won’t send me to another country?” she asked.

Cubillos said the deportees are being given two options—stay in the hotel, or go back home.

He added that one Colombian could not cope with the situation any longer and decided to go back home at his own expense.

But he said this is not possible for most of them.

“If I had to choose between the Congo and Barranquilla [in] Colombia—where I’m from—I would choose Barranquilla, because here I’m not doing anything,” he said.

“But going back to Barranquilla would put my life at risk,” he added.

“Asylum seekers are at risk in our countries.”

Additional reporting by Emery Makumeno in Kinshasa.

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