A group of Cuban immigrants who built lives in Florida is now stranded thousands of miles away in the Central African Republic after ICE removed them under an expanding policy that allows the United States to deport people to countries they have never called home.
Yasmany Moreno, 32, said he thought he was being transferred between detention facilities when officers placed him on a plane in Texas on July 30. Five hours into the flight, he said an officer revealed they were headed to Africa.
“I honestly thought it was a bad joke because the officer laughed, like he was making fun of me,” Moreno said.
Moreno was among 36 immigrants sent on the roughly 21-hour trip, according to the Tampa Bay Times. A month later, the group remained in Bangui without passports and with no clear information about what comes next. Moreno said authorities told them they may have to leave their hotel rooms within 90 days.
“It is a completely inhumane situation,” Moreno said. “What are we doing here? It is a question we ask ourselves every day.”
The removals are part of the Trump administration’s growing use of third country deportations, which send immigrants to nations other than their countries of citizenship. Recent reporting found that more than 100 deportees from Afghanistan, Cuba, Nicaragua and other countries were sent to eight African nations over 10 days in August.
The destination has raised its own concerns. The U.S. State Department places the Central African Republic under its highest Level 4 “Do Not Travel” warning because of unrest, crime, kidnapping, landmines, health risks and terrorism. Reuters reported that the United States reached an arrangement for the country to receive third-country deportees and awarded $85 million to the International Organization for Migration for operations there.
DHS has defended the strategy, saying the administration and ICE are using “all lawful options” to conduct what it calls “the largest deportation operation in history.”
“When an individual is no longer in ICE custody, then ICE will no longer be responsible for them,” DHS said. “This is common sense.”
The policy has also reached the Supreme Court. In June 2025, the justices paused a lower court injunction requiring additional notice and an opportunity for immigrants to raise fear based claims before being sent to third countries, allowing removals to continue while the case proceeded. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, with Sotomayor arguing that due process protections apply before people are removed to places where they could face torture or death.
Moreno arrived in the United States by raft in 2016 under the federal “wet foot, dry foot” policy, which generally allowed Cubans who reached U.S. soil to remain. The Obama administration ended that policy in January 2017, making Cuban nationals who entered without authorization and did not qualify for humanitarian relief subject to removal. Moreno later applied for a green card but was denied after his temporary permit expired.
Moreno, who has diabetes and asthma, said he became sick after the 21-hour flight while cuffed at his hands, waist, and feet.
“I miss my family, the people, my friends, the streets,” Moreno said. “I had been in the United States for 10 years. Now, I feel like I’m in prison.”
Arístides Fernández, 37, another Cuban immigrant who lived in Florida, described the situation as a “kidnapping.”
“We feel like that because we did not sign any documents, and we don’t know what to do with our lives,” Fernández said. “No human being has the right to do this to another person.”
Fernández entered the United States through the southern border in 2021 and was detained in January after an immigration court hearing in Miami. In Bangui, he said the deportees cannot freely leave their building and must ask a guard for permission and pay $5 for protection when going outside.
“It is a punishment that makes no sense,” Fernández said. “There is no other word for it. We have nothing.”
Miami immigration attorney Hector Diaz, who does not represent the deportees, called the situation “a clear abuse of humanitarian rights.”
“To start to send people to Africa is really outlandish,” Diaz said. “They are basically in limbo. This raises severe due process abuses, along with very serious humanitarian concerns.”
Daniel Fuentes, 31, another Cuban immigrant deported to the Central African Republic, said the danger feels especially acute because she is transgender. Fuentes said she had to cut her hair and change how she speaks and acts in ways that do not reflect “who she’s being every day.”
“Here, the security guards tell me it is better not to go outside because it’s not safe for me,” Fuentes said.
Fuentes entered through the southern border in 2024 using the CBP One app. The second Trump administration later canceled CBP One and replaced it with CBP Home, which includes a voluntary departure process. Fuentes had a humanitarian permit and worked in a Miami beauty salon before ICE arrested her in March.
“It is a double challenge to live in limbo and in a country where people do not talk about LGBTQ rights,” Fuentes said. “I can’t wait for all of this to be over.”
The Florida cases show how quickly the third country strategy is expanding and how uncertain life can become after deportees leave U.S. custody. For Moreno, Fernández, and Fuentes, the immediate question is where they will be allowed to safely build a life next.
