US pays Equatorial Guinea $7.5M from refugee fund to take deportees: Report

By Mevlut Ozkan

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Trump administration has paid Equatorial Guinea $7.5 million from a refugee assistance fund to accept third-country deportees, The Guardian reported on Tuesday, citing US officials, a lawmaker, and government records.

The $7.5 million, drawn from the Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) fund meant for international refugee crises and refugee resettlement, was sent directly to the Equatorial Guinean government, according to the government data.

A congressional aide called the deal “egregious” and said MRA funds, meant for overseas crises such as Gaza or Sudan, should not be used to remove noncitizens from the US.

In a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the payment “highly unusual,” citing the Central African nation’s “history of corruption” and officials’ alleged “complicity in human trafficking,” and questioned what protections would prevent deportees from facing human rights abuses.

Implementing the Trump administration’s immigration policies “is a top priority,” a State Department spokesperson told The Guardian, citing Rubio’s “commitment to end illegal and mass immigration” and strengthening border security.

The spokesperson added the department had “no comment on the details of our diplomatic communications with other governments.”

Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau met in September with Equatorial Guinea Vice President Nguema Obiang, convicted in Paris of embezzling millions and found by the US Justice Department to have spent $315 million on luxury goods.

The two “reaffirmed joint commitments” on economic ties, immigration, and security, with Obiang later agreeing to cooperate on the “orderly reception of undocumented immigrants.”

The Trump administration aims to deport millions of immigrants in the US to third countries.

So far, Ghana, Uganda, Rwanda, Eswatini, and South Sudan have accepted third-country nationals deported from the US under the administration’s immigration agreements.