By Darius Spearman (africanelements)

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On February 16, 2026, news reports revealed a major change in how the United States handles immigration. The government has started sending migrants to Cameroon. These people are not from Cameroon. They have no family there. They do not speak the local languages. Lawyers call these "third-country removals." This strategy turns Cameroon into a warehouse for people the U.S. does not want. This development follows a period of heavy economic exploitation across the continent (prnewswire.com).

President Donald Trump has expanded this policy during his current term. Reports show that many migrants were only told where they were going after being chained. One flight left Louisiana on January 14, 2026. It carried nine people who were not Cameroonian. These individuals ended up in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon. This move has caused deep concern among human rights activists and lawyers (hrw.org).

To understand this news, one must look at the history of Cameroon. A major conflict called the Anglophone Crisis began in 2016. It started when English-speaking teachers and lawyers protested. They did not like the government forcing French judges and teachers on them. President Paul Biya has led the country since 1982. His government responded to the protests with military force. This violence turned into a civil war (wikipedia.org).

Separatist groups want to create a new state called Ambazonia. The military and these groups fight constantly. More than 6,000 people have died since the fighting started. Over one million people had to flee their homes. Many of these people tried to find safety in the United States. However, they found a very difficult system waiting for them. The notion of freedom is often different for Black migrants (theguardian.com).

The conflict in Cameroon is not a small matter. It involves "scorched-earth" tactics by the military. Separatist forces also commit atrocities. This environment makes Cameroon a very dangerous place. Despite this, the U.S. government now views Cameroon as a partner. They treat the Biya administration as a safe place for deportees. This is a big change from 2019 when the U.S. cut military aid to Cameroon because of human rights abuses (hrw.org).

This is not the first time the U.S. has sent people to danger in Cameroon. In late 2020, the government deported about 90 Cameroonians. Activists called these flights "death planes." They sent asylum seekers back to a war zone. Many of these people were seen as traitors by the Cameroonian government. They faced terrible treatment upon their arrival (hrw.org).

A report by Human Rights Watch found that these deportees were tortured. Some were raped or disappeared into secret prisons. State security forces arrested them right at the airport in Douala. These people had asked the U.S. for protection but were turned away instead. The trauma of these events still haunts many families today. Family resilience is tested when loved ones are taken away (theguardian.com).

Advocates like Daniel Tse and Guerline Jozef fought for years to help. They wanted the U.S. to grant Temporary Protected Status or TPS. This status protects people from being sent back to dangerous countries. The Biden administration finally granted TPS to Cameroonians in 2022. In 2024, the government even let 27 wrongly deported people come back to the U.S. It was a rare admission that the government had made a mistake (prnewswire.com).

The current 2026 deportations use a different legal trick. Many of the people being sent to Cameroon have a status called "Withholding of Removal." A judge has already decided these people would likely be tortured in their home countries. Because of this, the U.S. cannot send them home. However, the law allows the government to send them to a third country (americanimmigrationcouncil.org).

The government relies on a 2005 Supreme Court case called Jama v. ICE. This ruling says the U.S. can deport someone to a country even if that country does not explicitly agree to take them. If a third country is willing to take the migrant, the U.S. can send them there. This allows the government to clear its backlog of migrants. It effectively bypasses the rules that protect people from torture (wikipedia.org).

Lawyers Alma David and Joseph Awah Fru have raised alarms about these flights. They say the removals happen with almost no notice. Migrants are often given less than 24 hours of warning. They have no time to call their lawyers or say goodbye to their families. This lack of due process makes it very hard to stop the deportations. The system seems designed to move people before anyone can intervene (americanimmigrationcouncil.org).

The United States is not just asking Cameroon for a favor. Reports from a Senate committee show that the U.S. has paid a lot of money. The government has spent over $40 million on these agreements. Cameroon is one of several African nations involved. Other countries include Rwanda, South Sudan, and Uganda. These deals are often kept secret from the public (prnewswire.com).

There are 15 concluded agreements and many more in the works. Critics worry about how this money is being used. The Biya administration has a history of corruption. There is no oversight to ensure the money helps the migrants. Instead, it might just support the military that is fighting the Anglophone Crisis. This creates a cycle of violence funded by U.S. taxpayers (hrw.org).

These secret deals show a move toward "outsourcing" immigration control. The U.S. pays other countries to take its problems. This avoids the legal battles that happen on American soil. It also hides the diversity of the people being deported. Many of these migrants are from Haiti or other African nations. They are grouped together and sent away to places where they have no future (theguardian.com).

The biggest concern is a principle called "non-refoulement." This is a fancy word for a simple promise. International law says countries cannot return people to a place where they will be tortured. The U.S. signed treaties promising to follow this rule. Sending people to Cameroon might be a violation of these treaties. Cameroon has already proven it does not treat returnees well (hrw.org).

Article 3 of the UN Convention Against Torture is very clear. It forbids sending any person to a state where they are in danger of torture. Human rights groups argue that the third-country strategy is a way to cheat. It ignores the spirit of the law. By sending people to a "hub" like Cameroon, the U.S. washes its hands of what happens next. This is a very dangerous precedent for global human rights (wikipedia.org).

The situation is even more complicated for those with TPS. While TPS protects Cameroonians, it does not help those from other countries. The U.S. is using Cameroon as a "warehouse" for people from across the globe. This strategy ignores the individual needs and safety of each person. It treats human beings like cargo to be shipped around the world (theguardian.com).

Rapid increase in removals under the current administration.

This policy hits Black migrants the hardest. Organizations like the Black Alliance for Just Immigration have spoken out. They note that Black migrants face higher rates of jail time and less chance of getting parole. When the U.S. groups different nationalities together on flights to Cameroon, it erases their unique stories. It makes it harder for the community to fight back. Better political representation is needed to address these systemic issues (theguardian.com).

Haitian migrants are often caught in this system too. They are held in the same facilities in Louisiana as Cameroonians. Then, they are put on the same planes. This shows that the government views these different groups as the same. It is a form of discrimination that ignores the specific dangers each group faces. The struggle for justice is shared across the entire diaspora (theguardian.com).

The "third-country" strategy is a dark chapter in U.S. history. It shows a lack of compassion for people seeking safety. As of February 2026, the number of people impacted continues to grow. Lawyers and activists are working hard to shine a light on these secret flights. They believe that if the public knows the truth, things might change. Understanding the past is the only way to protect the future of the Black community (prnewswire.com).

The situation in Cameroon remains unstable. The civil war shows no signs of ending soon. President Biya continues to rule with an iron fist. By sending more people into this environment, the U.S. is making a choice. It is choosing border control over human lives. This is a choice that will have long-lasting effects on families and nations alike. The world is watching to see if the U.S. will uphold its own values (hrw.org).

Darius Spearman is a professor of Black Studies at San Diego City College, where he has been teaching for over 20 years. He is the founder of African Elements, a media platform dedicated to providing educational resources on the history and culture of the African diaspora. Through his work, Spearman aims to empower and educate by bringing historical context to contemporary issues affecting the Black community.