A group of migrants deported from the United States to Cameroon is challenging the agreement that allowed Washington to send them to a country where they had not previously lived. A Cameroonian lawyer, Joseph Ava Fru, has filed a case before the Yaoundé Administrative Court seeking to suspend the arrangement between the United States and Cameroon.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of 36 deportees who were transferred to Cameroon between January and May 2026. The migrants argue that the arrangement exposes some of them to risks of persecution or other serious harm if they remain in Cameroon or are subsequently transferred elsewhere.
The case places Cameroon inside a growing international debate over the Trump administration’s use of third-country deportations.
Cameroon Became A Destination For People Who Were Not From Cameroon.
The people at the centre of the lawsuit are not necessarily Cameroonian citizens. The agreement allows the United States to transfer certain migrants to Cameroon even when Cameroon is not their country of origin.
People from countries including Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe have reportedly been housed in a temporary facility in Yaoundé.
The arrangement is part of a wider US policy under which Washington has negotiated agreements with countries willing to receive migrants who cannot be returned directly to their countries of origin.
The Agreement Was Signed Through Diplomatic Notes.
The legal dispute is partly focused on the agreement itself.
According to reporting based on an investigation by France 24, Radio France Internationale and Forbidden Stories, the publicly available document concerning Cameroon consists of an exchange of diplomatic notes from December 2025.
The agreement reportedly commits Cameroon to treating transferred people in accordance with international law and preventing persecution or torture on its territory or in the event of another transfer.
The migrants’ lawyer is now asking the Cameroonian court to suspend the arrangement, arguing that those protections are not sufficient to address the risks faced by some of the deportees.
Some Deportees Say Their Movement Is Restricted.
Conditions at the Yaoundé shelter have become another central issue in the case.
According to France 24’s reporting, deportees have complained that their passports were confiscated by US authorities and that they initially faced restrictions on leaving the facility. Some were later issued temporary documents following a hunger strike.
The lawyer says the migrants receive accommodation and food but have limited financial resources and restrictions on their freedom of movement.
Cameroonian authorities have presented a different picture, saying the migrants are being received and have had contact with government ministries, UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration.
Individual Cases Have Raised Difficult Questions.
One case involves an Ethiopian woman identified as Barbara, who had previously obtained protection from removal to her country of origin because of concerns about persecution.
A US court had granted her withholding of removal to Ethiopia, but that status did not necessarily prevent US authorities from transferring her to a third country they considered safe. She was subsequently flown to Cameroon in April 2026.
Her case illustrates the legal complexity of third-country removals. A person may be protected from being returned to one particular country while still being transferred somewhere else under US immigration policy.
The Cameroon Case Is Part Of A Much Larger US Policy.
The dispute is not isolated to Cameroon.
An international investigation cited by several outlets found that the Trump administration had reached arrangements with more than 35 countries across Africa and Latin America to receive people removed from the United States.
More than 25,000 people have reportedly been transferred to third countries under these arrangements since January 2025.
The policy has attracted criticism from immigration and human-rights organisations, which have questioned whether receiving countries can adequately protect people who have no established connection to them.
The Court Case Could Test Cameroon’s Role.
The Yaoundé case could ultimately force Cameroon to address the legal basis and practical consequences of its agreement with Washington.
The government has defended the treatment of the deportees, while the migrants challenging the agreement argue that some face serious risks and lack a clear legal status in Cameroon.
The court’s response could therefore have consequences beyond the 36 people named in the case. It could help clarify how Cameroon handles future third-country transfers and what legal protections must be provided to people sent there under agreements with foreign governments.
For now, the central question before the Cameroonian authorities is whether the agreement can continue operating while deportees challenge the conditions and legal safeguards surrounding their removal.
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