Farah is back where she started: Morocco, head down, living as if every vibration in her pocket might be the moment her family finds her again. Homosexuality is illegal in Morocco and can be punished by up to three years in prison, and Farah says she is now in hiding after the US deported her via a third country under President Donald Trump's administration.
She spoke to The Associated Press on the condition she be identified only by her first name, saying the danger she ran from never really let go—it simply changed airports. The AP reported it reviewed her protection order and that lawyers verified parts of her account.
Farah said she was beaten by her family and her partner's family after their relationship was discovered, then thrown out of her home and later tracked down after she and her partner fled to another city—an encounter she says ended with an attempt on her life. Through a friend, she and her partner obtained visas for Brazil and set off with the aim of reaching the United States, where they had friends.
From Brazil, Farah said, she travelled through six countries over several weeks to reach the US border, where she asked for asylum. She arrived in early 2025 expecting safety, but said she was held in detention for almost a year—first in Arizona, then in Louisiana—describing cold conditions, thin blankets, and inadequate medical care.
She was denied asylum, but in August she received a protection order from a US immigration judge stating she could not be deported to Morocco because it would endanger her life. Her partner, denied asylum and a protection order, was deported, Farah said.
When A Gay Asylum-Seeker's Order Didn't Stop A Plane
Farah said she was three days from a hearing on her release when Immigration and Customs Enforcement handcuffed her and put her on a plane to Cameroon—an African country she had never visited and where homosexuality is illegal—before she was placed in a detention facility. She said officials asked whether she wanted to stay in Cameroon; she said no, because she believed she would be endangered there, and she was later flown to Morocco.
Farah is one of dozens of people the AP said were confirmed to have been deported from the US to third countries despite having legal protection from US immigration judges, though the real number is unknown. Immigration lawyer Alma David said that eight people on a first flight to Cameroon in January—including Farah—had received judges' protection orders, describing the tactic as a legal 'loophole' that left people with little meaningful chance to contest where they were being sent.
A Gay Asylum-Seeker Caught In A Wider Policy
Joseph Awah Fru, a lawyer who represents deportees in Cameroon, told the AP that a detention facility in Yaounde held 15 deportees who arrived on two flights, and that none was Cameroonian. The Department of Homeland Security earlier confirmed there were deportations to Cameroon in January and defended the policy, saying, 'We are applying the law as written. If a judge finds an illegal alien has no right to be in this country, we are going to remove them. Period,' while also asserting the third-country agreements 'ensure due process under the US Constitution.'
A report compiled by Democratic staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee found the Trump administration spent at least $40 million to deport about 300 migrants to countries other than their own. Asked about the deportations to Cameroon, the US State Department said it had 'no comment on the details of our diplomatic communications with other governments,' and Cameroon's Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Back in Morocco, Farah said it was hard to listen to US officials describe people like her as a threat. 'What was done to me was unfair,' she said, adding that 'to go through so much and lose so much, only to be deported in such a way, is cruel.'
Originally published on IBTimes UK
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