LGBTQ+ migrants sought safety in the U.S. Trump sent them to dangerous countries they’d never known

Some LGBTQ+ migrants who sought safety in the United States have instead been deported to countries they’ve never visited, sometimes places they’d never heard of, where they say they must hide their identities to survive.

In 2024, Aylin left her home country of Turkey for the U.S. after a religious group and a close family member threatened her life because she is gay, CNN reports. CNN is using a pseudonym to protect her from reprisals.

Now, after 18 months in U.S. immigration detention and deportation to a country she knew nothing about, Aylin is back in Turkey. Her route home took her through Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, where the U.S. deported her in July.

“I just hoped to be free,” the 28-year-old said. “To live my life how I want to live, to take a breath. To have friends. A relationship. A good family. My own family. Justice.”

Related: Trump admin is trying to deport LGBTQ+ asylum-seekers to countries where they'd be killed, lawyers say

An immigration judge granted Aylin withholding of removal, a form of protection against deportation to a country where a person faces persecution, according to Immigration Equality. But her bid for asylum was denied, and she spent 18 months in detention.

Aylin told CNN she “was handcuffed and shackled,” then placed on a plane without being told her destination until midway through the flight: the Central African Republic, a country she had never heard of.

Same-sex marriage has been constitutionally banned in the Central African Republic since 2016. Same-sex sexual activity is legal only in private. Facing limited options in Bangui, Aylin told her family her sexual orientation had changed and returned to Turkey, where anti-LGBTQ crackdowns have intensified.

Adwoa — also a pseudonym — is a bisexual Ghanaian who sought refuge in the U.S., only to be deported to Cameroon.

The 21-year-old said she endured years of hostility before fleeing after neighbors accused her family of witchcraft because of her sexual orientation. In the U.S., a court granted her protection against deportation to Ghana, where she says she fears for her life. Instead, she was sent to Cameroon, where LGBTQ+ people face severe restrictions on their rights.

Now held at a government-run detention center, Adwoa described being in Cameroon as “a terrifying feeling.”

A June report by Immigration Equality documented similar cases, detailing how the Trump administration’s deportations to third countries have exposed LGBTQ+ migrants to dangerous conditions in places where they have no ties.

Related: LGBTQ+ non-U.S. citizens at risk under Trump’s immigration crackdown: study

The Advocate previously reported that these third-country arrangements can leave LGBTQ+ asylum seekers facing danger even after a U.S. judge has barred their return home. In February, The Advocate covered the case of Farah, a 21-year-old gay Moroccan woman deported to Cameroon despite a court order protecting her from removal to Morocco. Both countries criminalize same-sex relations. Farah eventually returned to Morocco, where she told The Associated Press she was living in hiding.

Michael, a gay man who also left Ghana in 2024, secured some legal protections in the U.S. but was ultimately deported to Equatorial Guinea, a country where he has no connections and LGBTQ+ people have few legal protections.

Hassan, a gay man from North Africa, sought asylum in the U.S., but his case was never heard. He was instead sent to Uganda, which enacted its Anti-Homosexuality Act in 2023.

In a statement to CNN, the Department of Homeland Security defended its deportation policies, 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.”

LGBTQ+ asylum seekers have also been sent to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT, a notorious maximum-security prison. In one high-profile case that The Advocate has reported on, gay Venezuelan asylum seeker Andry Hernández Romero and others have filed legal claims against DHS, alleging they were wrongfully deported and subjected to abuse.

Third Country Deportation Watch reports that the Trump administration has agreements with at least 35 countries across Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Europe to accept deported migrants.

The deportations come amid a broader rollback of LGBTQ+ rights within the U.S., including state restrictions and anti-transgender political campaigns.