Federal judge orders Trump Admin to bring gay immigrant imprisoned in Africa back to US

But now District Court Judge John C. Hinderaker, whom Donald Trump appointed, ruled that DHS violated Soliman’s due process rights and must return him to the United States. The judge said DHS “must ensure his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to Equatorial Guinea,” the American Prospect reports.

“Our reaction was relief and hope that he’s going to be able to come home and reunite with his family,” his attorney, Dana Camilleri, said. “I also am still thinking of everyone who’s confined at the hotel there and wanting to get them home. It’s a great step forward, but I’m a little cautious, honestly.”

Soliman was born in Egypt, but he moved with his family to the US when he was 4 years old and grew up in the Phoenix area with his conservative family. He said that he turned to drugs as a young adult because he didn’t know how to deal with his sexuality, which resulted in a conviction for driving under the influence, for which he served two years in prison. After his release in 2023, ICE took him into custody.

His lawyers won a protective order against deportation to Egypt because of his sexuality and also because his family had been targeted for persecution by the current regime.

But then, in April, officials transferred him to a facility in Louisiana despite a pending habeas petition in Arizona. He was then flown to Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. He said that federal agents told him they didn’t bring any paperwork for him.

“I came here as a ghost,” he said.

Equatorial Guinea is known for having one of the most corrupt governments in the world, and, according to a February report from Senate Democrats, the US has sent deportees there even if they’re not from that country in exchange for $7.5 million, which the Trump administration allegedly took from a humanitarian fund for refugee assistance.

While homosexuality isn’t banned by law in the country, security forces “subjected LGBTQI+ individuals to discrimination and violence, including rape and other sexual violence, within the military and in jails and prisons,” according to a State Department report on human rights in the nation. “Authorities did not investigate these abuses.”

The report added that “The government made no effort to combat” the rampant, society-wide “stigma and discrimination” against LGBTQ+ people, with the government even removing people from government and academic jobs due to their perceived sexual orientation.

DHS later said that Soliman is “no longer in ICE custody” and that ICE “will no longer be responsible for them. This is common sense.” Reports from the hotel where he was held said detainees were denied food and basic items like toilet paper and soap. Soliman said he started getting beaten in July, and officers threatened to kill him and bury him behind the hotel. Beatings reportedly increased as other detainees spoke to Spanish-language American media.

“The way we came here makes a lot of us feel like, yeah, we were smuggled,” Soliman said at the time. “Our lives were played with for monetary purposes.”

“It’s just disheartening because we don’t know what the end goal is here.”

“Yeah, I’m scared, but I’m willing to be scared. I’m fighting for my life.”

ICE officials have not denied any of Soliman’s claims in court. Instead, DHS argued that Equatorial Guinea gave “diplomatic assurances” that detainees would not be harmed. Judge Hinderaker said that this does not count as sufficient due process. The order requires the Trump administration to report on its progress in bringing Soliman back in three days.

At least 63 immigrants to the US who are not from Equatorial Guinea have been sent there by the Trump administration.

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Article Source: Federal judge orders Trump Admin to bring gay immigrant imprisoned in Africa back to US