Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Nika, an Iranian woman who says she fears being killed if returned to Iran, is among a growing number of migrants deported by the Trump administration to third countries they had never previously visited, CNN reported.
Using the pseudonym Nika for safety reasons, she told CNN that she had spent much of her youth protesting against the Iranian regime and had lost friends who were killed or imprisoned.
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“I know if I was in Iran, they’re going to kill me,” she said.
After being detained at the US border and spending months in ICE custody, Nika was briefly allowed to live freely in California. She later received a Department of Homeland Security notice to attend what she believed was a routine meeting in June, but was arrested when she arrived, according to documents reviewed by CNN.
Three days later, on June 11, Nika said she was handcuffed, shackled and placed on a deportation flight with 17 other migrants from countries including Afghanistan, Iraq and Georgia. She said she only learned her destination after boarding the aircraft.
Nika was deported to Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, despite having received a protection order from a US immigration judge, CNN reported. Such orders are designed to prevent migrants from being returned to countries where they could face persecution, torture or death.
Her immigration lawyer, Sahar Jalili Pawelski, told CNN she had tried to stop the deportation flight.
The Department of Homeland Security defended the deportations, telling CNN that those removed had received due process and had final orders of removal. It said third-country agreements were essential to US homeland security and immigration enforcement.
Since arriving in Bangui more than two months ago, Nika said she has largely remained inside her apartment block out of fear. She also claimed that local police officers had stopped her and demanded bribes, allegations denied by the police, according to CNN.
Nika said she was hospitalised after contracting malaria.
The US State Department advises against all travel to the Central African Republic due to risks including crime, kidnapping, disease and terrorism, CNN reported.
Details of the agreement under which the Central African Republic agreed to accept deportees from the US have not been made public. CNN reported that the US this year provided USD 85 million to the International Organisation for Migration’s operations in the country and committed an additional USD 50 million to its Humanitarian Fund.
A DHS spokesperson told CNN that the US would use foreign assistance to support countries that help advance its immigration priorities. The IOM said it does not facilitate deportations and has a longstanding presence in the Central African Republic.
Nika and other migrants were reportedly granted only a temporary three-month stay. A second deportation flight carrying 31 migrants arrived in the country on July 31.
With uncertainty growing over what will happen once their accommodation arrangements end, Nika fears she could eventually be sent back to Iran. Her lawyer is now filing a federal lawsuit seeking her return to the US and the reopening of her asylum claim.
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
