A judge ruled on Wednesday that the Trump administration’s policy of deporting asylum seekers and other immigrants to so-called third countries is unlawful.
That ruling was too late for hundreds of immigrants summarily shipped off to countries other than their own in the past year, including a 21-year-old gay woman from Morocco who fled persecution there for the United States, only to find herself in Cameroon, another country in Africa where homosexuality is illegal.
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Homosexual acts in Morocco are punishable by up to three years in prison; in Cameroon, the penalty is up to five years in prison.
Farah, who asked to be identified only by her first name, said that she was deported to Cameroon from the U.S. despite having protection orders from a U.S. immigration judge.
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She is now back in hiding in Morocco, she told the Associated Press, in a rare interview with a victim of the third-country policy.
“It is hard to live and work with the fear of being tracked once again by my family,” she said. “But there is nothing I can do. I have to work.”
Farah fled Morocco with her girlfriend after both their families reacted violently to news of their relationship. Farah was kicked out of her family home and fled with her partner to another city. She said her family tracked her down and tried to kill her.
After a six-country odyssey starting in Brazil, the couple arrived at the U.S. southern border in January 2025 and applied for asylum.
“You get put in situations that are truly horrible,” she said of her months-long ordeal to reach the border. “When we arrived, it felt like it was worth the trouble and that we got to our goal.”
But after a year of brutal detention — first in Arizona, then in Louisiana — Farah began calling their efforts into question.
“It was very cold,” she said of their time in ICE facilities. “And we only had very thin blankets.” Medical care was inadequate, she said.
Farah was eventually denied asylum in the U.S., but she did receive a protection order from the U.S. immigration judge who heard her case. Sending Farah back to Morocco would endanger her life, the judge ruled.
Her partner, however, was denied both asylum and a protection order and was deported back to Morocco. It’s another indication of how arbitrarily even legally questionable policies are applied in the
Three days from a hearing on her case, Farah was handcuffed by ICE agents and loaded onto a plane for Cameroon. On arrival to another detention facility – in a country where she knew homosexuality was illegal, just like it was at home – she was asked if she wanted to stay.
“I told them that I can’t stay in Cameroon and risk my life in a place where I would still be endangered,” she recalled.
Over a year later, Farah is still fleeing danger in Morocco.
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