Archive · 30 Aug 2026
Iranian Migrant Deported to Unfamiliar Country Fears for Safety
Nika is an Iranian woman who left Iran after protesting against its government.
She says some of her friends were killed or imprisoned during crackdowns.
After spending time in US immigration detention, she was briefly allowed to live in California.
Officials later arrested her during a meeting she thought was routine.
They put her on a plane with other migrants and sent her to the Central African Republic.
She says she did not know the destination until she was on the plane.
Nika had a US court order meant to protect people from being sent to places where they could face serious danger.
She now lives in Bangui but says she is worried about her safety and her family.
Nika, an Iranian migrant, was deported from the United States to the Central African Republic.
She says she had never visited the Central African Republic before arriving in Bangui.
US authorities arrested her at what she believed was a routine immigration meeting.
Nika says she fears death if returned to Iran because of her protest history.
Her lawyer says a US protection order was intended to prevent deportation to dangerous countries.
- Who
- Nika, an Iranian migrant, along with US immigration authorities and her lawyer, Sahar Jalili Pawelski.
- What
- Nika was deported from the United States to the Central African Republic, a country she says she had never visited.
- When
- She was arrested in June and deported on the evening of June 11.
- Where
- She was sent from the United States to Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic.
- Why
- US authorities carried out the deportation under the administration’s broader policy of sending some migrants to third countries; Nika says returning to Iran could put her life at risk.
Nika and her lawyer
US deportation policy
Safety and protection
Nika and her lawyer
Nika says she could be killed in Iran because she protested against the government, while her lawyer says a protection order was meant to prevent deportation to a dangerous country.
US deportation policy
The article says US authorities deported Nika to the Central African Republic, but it does not provide an official explanation addressing her protection order or safety concerns.
Notice and destination
Nika and her lawyer
Nika says she believed she was attending a routine meeting, was arrested there, and learned her destination only after boarding the plane.
US deportation policy
The Department of Homeland Security had sent her a notice for the meeting, and authorities had reportedly decided weeks earlier to deport her.
Third-country deportations
Nika and her lawyer
Nika’s case reflects the concern that migrants may be sent to countries they have never visited and where they fear for their safety.
US deportation policy
The Trump administration has increasingly deported migrants to third countries as part of its mass-deportation policy, according to the article.
- Deported migrant
- Nika, an Iranian woman who uses a pseudonym
- Destination
- Bangui, Central African Republic
- Deportation date
- The evening of June 11
- Flight passengers
- Nika and 17 other migrants, including people from Afghanistan, Iraq and Georgia
- US detention
- Nika spent months in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention before briefly living in California
- Protection order
- Nika had obtained an order from a US judge intended to prevent removal to countries where she could face persecution, torture or death
- Current concern
- Nika says she fears for her safety in Bangui and fears being returned to Iran