Jorge Cubillos, a 42-year-old Colombian, was incredulous at what ICE agents were telling him. After being detained for more than three months by the U.S. immigration service on a deportation order against him, agents told him what the outcome would be: the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a Central African nation that agreed with the Donald Trump Administration to temporarily receive migrants from third countries expelled by Washington. “Those months of confinement teach you to be strong, but at that moment I broke down. I thought of my children and started to pray. We were chained to a country we don’t know and that is on the other side of the world. I never thought I would get to know Africa under these circumstances,” Cubillos recounts by phone from Kinshasa, the Congolese capital which, since Friday and improvisationally, has become his residence.
Read more Juan, the Mexican contestant in a MrBeast challenge who has won the love of the viewers
Cubillos is one of 15 Latin Americans deported to the DRC, in the first group of migrants expelled by Trump to this country of over 115 million inhabitants. Kinshasa announced on April 5 that it would begin receiving groups of deportees this month and would host them temporarily, in a campaign fully paid for by Washington. It is the latest African country to reach similar agreements with the White House, following Ghana, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, South Sudan, and Eswatini. The U.S. Congress estimated a few months ago that the Administration had spent up to 40 million dollars on these agreements, averaging over 130,000 per deported person.
These costly agreements with third countries have been the immediate solution reached by the Trump Administration to deport migrants who, for protection, cannot return to their places of origin. This was the case for Cubillos, a native of Bogotá. This truck driver worked for many years on Colombia’s southern border and received threats from armed groups operating in the area. When he arrived in the U.S. in 2018, he tried to apply for asylum. Due to expiration of terms, the judge granted him withholding or suspension of removal. This guarantee only prevented his return to Colombia, but not to another nation willing to receive him.
“They arrested me in Orlando (Florida) and locked me in a federal prison. After 20 days, they took me to Jacksonville, to an ICE detention center. They didn’t explain why they were detaining me, only that I had a deportation order. The agents started pressuring me to go to a third country, like Mexico, but the situation there is also complicated with drug trafficking. That’s why I filed a habeas corpus,” Cubillos states. This legal instrument allows detained migrants to challenge their detention before a judge. In theory, they cannot be deported until it is resolved.
The Colombian asserts that his request was still within the deadline, but that didn’t stop ICE’s plans. “From Jacksonville, they took me to Louisiana. There they told me they were going to give me the yellow fever vaccine because they were going to send me to Angola, but I assumed it was just pressure and a mind game. Until on the 13th [of April] they took me out and put me in some cells at Alexandria airport, and that’s when I found out they were going to send me to Congo.”
Read more Leo XIV: now his voice was finally heard
Carlos Rodelo, a 43-year-old from Barranquilla, suffered a similar fate. He fled Colombia after being a victim of extortion on several occasions. He entered the U.S. through the Mexican border and applied for asylum. A judge eventually granted him CAT protection (from the UN Convention Against Torture), which only allows relocation to a safe third country in case of deportation. Rodelo was arrested last August and also filed a habeas corpus. “They held me for several hours in a small room in a cell at Alexandria airport. I was in shackles and hadn’t eaten anything. At one point, 10 ICE agents came in and told me ‘go’. I explained that I couldn’t go back to Colombia, and they replied that I was going to Congo and that I shouldn’t waste their time.”
He boarded the plane that would take him to the DRC. Before that, it would make a stop in Dakar (Senegal) and Accra (Ghana). “I couldn’t believe what was happening. My head was still tangled, and I asked God to give me strength. I felt so helpless because we were tied up. They gave us a small bag with a sandwich and water. We couldn’t lift our heads. They treated us like slaves. It’s something I wouldn’t wish on anyone,” Rodelo recounts. Other Colombian, Peruvian, and Ecuadorian citizens traveled with him and Cubillos.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro reacted to this news on Saturday. “This is called ostracism (…) The foreign minister has orders to immediately bring the Colombians from Congo, and without chains,” he stated in an X message. The deportees hope that their respective governments can repatriate them. Although both Cubillos and Rodelo maintain that it was not in their plans to return to the country they fled under threat, they believe it is the best option given the scenario. “They can help us there. What happened to me was eight years ago, so I hope to feel calmer in Colombia and be able to start anew. In the United States, no one cares what happens to us. Not a single official has appeared to defend us.”
The deported South Americans have been in a hotel in Kinshasa since Friday and have received support from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a UN agency, for care and food. The Colombians consulted indicate that a Congolese official told them that the government would process a temporary visa for them and that they could even issue a longer permit if any of them planned to stay there. Both — and they believe the others too — wish to return to their countries of origin as soon as possible.
