Man facing ICE deportation to the Congo: "I feel like a person who has no value"

4 days ago 15

When Jose Yugar-Cruz arrived astatine the Arizona-Mexico borderline successful the July vigor astir 2 years ago, helium told a national court, helium instantly turned himself into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody and asked for asylum.

In January 2025, though helium was denied asylum, helium became 1 of astir 4,000 migrants past twelvemonth to beryllium granted a tribunal bid preventing their deportation to their location state due to the fact that a justice recovered it much apt than not that they would look torture oregon persecution if returned, migration tribunal information shows.

But the expected triumph was followed by a yearlong ineligible conflict during which helium remained detained. On Monday, a national justice cleared the mode for ICE to deport Yugar-Cruz to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

"I consciousness truly, genuinely devastated by what is happening to me," Yugar-Cruz, 37, told CBS News from ICE detention successful Iowa, speaking successful Spanish. "It is simply a state I don't know, I person nary household there, I don't talk their connection — arsenic acold arsenic I recognize I deliberation it's French. I don't cognize what the process volition beryllium similar there, I don't cognize if I'll proceed to beryllium detained."

"I support reasoning it's a nightmare that I volition aftermath up from," helium added. Yugar-Cruz spoke successful a associated interrogation with CBS News and The Minneapolis Star Tribune.

A withholding of removal bid similar the 1 Yugar-Cruz received doesn't make a pathway to ineligible residence successful the United States and allows for third-country deportations. But nether erstwhile administrations, the trouble of deporting migrants to countries they aren't from meant that astir who were granted specified protections would extremity up staying successful the U.S. indefinitely, migration argumentation experts told CBS News.

"The Trump medication is trying to velocity up the process and successful immoderate ways trying to spell retired of their mode to marque the process punitive for migrants to effort to nonstop a message," said Ariel Ruiz Soto, a elder argumentation expert astatine the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan deliberation tank.

Starting past February, the Trump medication began a coordinated propulsion to motion agreements with countries astir the satellite to judge third-country deportees portion seeking to apprehension and region those granted withholding of removal orders.

"We are moving with different countries to say, 'We privation to nonstop you immoderate of the astir despicable quality beings to your countries. Will you bash that arsenic a favour to us?'" Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during a Cabinet gathering aft President Trump's archetypal 100 days backmost successful office. "And the further distant from America the better, truthful they can't travel backmost crossed the border."

Deportees — with and without transgression records — person been sent to countries including Ghana, Cameroon, South Sudan and El Salvador. Many were yet sent backmost to their location countries, according to tribunal records and a legislature report, contempt U.S. judges' rulings successful cases similar Yugar-Cruz's affirming they would look torture oregon persecution there.

ICE did not respond to a petition for remark connected Yugar-Cruz's lawsuit oregon its third-country removal practices. Court records amusement that ICE said the DRC "provided diplomatic assurances" that deportees sent determination would not beryllium persecuted oregon tortured.

The DRC is 1 of the latest of 28 countries to judge third-country deportees. The medication is besides considering a program to resettle 1,000 Afghan evacuees surviving successful Qatar who fought alongside U.S. troops to the DRC, The New York Times archetypal reported. The Qatar-based campy was initially intended arsenic an expedited processing hub to assistance eligible refugees imperishable ineligible presumption successful the U.S.

On April 17, a radical of 15 South American deportees arrived successful the DRC, according to a authorities announcement from the country. The announcement, written successful French, said the statement is "strictly transitory, temporary, and constricted successful time."

This is simply a communal diagnostic of third-country deportation agreements, said Yael Schacher, manager for the Americas and Europe astatine Refugees International, 1 of the groups monitoring third-country deportations.

"They're sold to different countries arsenic temporary," she told CBS News of the agreements. "The immense bulk of these folks are going to leave, oregon beryllium repatriated."

The South American deportees told NPR that they were fixed nary viable options different than to instrumentality to their location country. At slightest one, a pistillate from Colombia, has been granted ineligible protections from deportation, Reuters reported.

"That is wherever the cardinal occupation comes," Schacher said. "It's benignant of an extremity tally astir those protections."

Yugar-Cruz, who asked that his autochthonal state beryllium withheld to support him, fled from South America. Since the commencement of 2025, ICE tried unsuccessfully to region him to Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Mexico and Canada, according to tribunal records.

Earlier this year, Yugar-Cruz was released from ICE detention for 3 months aft a national tribunal ruled his detention, which had spanned 17 months, was unlawful, tribunal records show. But successful April, aft ICE received announcement that the DRC would judge Yugar-Cruz, helium was detained again.

"I was starting to unrecorded successful freedom, but they detained maine again," helium said. "I mislaid my parent portion detained. I can't assistance my children. I'm present detained. I consciousness similar a idiosyncratic who has nary value."

Yugar-Cruz was primitively connected the manifest for the archetypal deportation formation to the DRC that took spot successful mid-April, according to tribunal records, but his ongoing national tribunal lawsuit delayed his removal.

Third-country deportations made up a tiny fraction of those deported past year. The Migration Policy Institute estimates that the Department of Homeland Security deported astir 15,000 radical to 3rd countries betwixt Jan. 20 and Dec. 31, 2025, of which 13,000 were sent to Mexico. DHS said successful aboriginal December it had deported a full of much than 605,000 radical since Mr. Trump returned to office.

Ruiz Soto said the maneuver is intended to deter migrants, some successful the U.S. and those who whitethorn beryllium considering entering illegally.

"Even tiny numbers of radical being sent to different countries successful chains, that made it overmuch much disposable than successful the past for radical to beryllium fundamentally frightened into saying 'this could beryllium me, this could hap to me,'" helium said.

DHS is presently facing a class-action suit from those granted withholding of removal, arguing that earlier being removed to a 3rd country, immigrants should beryllium fixed an accidental to rise concerns of being persecuted oregon tortured successful that country. While a little tribunal placed a enactment connected removals portion the litigation was pending, the Supreme Court lifted the stay successful June 2025.

In February of this year, a territory tribunal ruled that DHS's third-country removal practices were unlawful, but the ruling was stayed pending the government's appeal, allowing the deportations to continue.

The national justice successful Yugar-Cruz's lawsuit cited the Supreme Court's ruling successful his decision, describing it arsenic "all but fatal to Yugar-Cruz's claim," leaving him with "little prime but to deny" the question to merchandise him from detention.

Yugar-Cruz's deportation could instrumentality spot immoderate time now, but ICE agents person not fixed him a day for his departure, helium said. Alison Griffith, his attorney, said her squad asked that ICE see sending him to a Spanish-speaking state person to location alternatively of the DRC, but she said they refused.

"I inactive person religion that possibly immoderate occurrence could hap successful my lawsuit and that they would springiness maine my state again," Yugar-Cruz said.

"I americium grateful to each those radical who helped me," helium added, referring to the Iowa-based advocates who rallied astir him during the months helium was released. "It is arsenic if they filled that bare abstraction that my parent near successful maine — those radical filled it."

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