U.S. deports an Afghan with wartime-allied relatives to the Central African Republic

Over 10 days the Trump administration sent more than 100 deportees from Afghanistan, Cuba, Nicaragua and other nations to eight African countries, CBS reported from internal documents.

Internal documents show three ICE flights dropped deportees in Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Liberia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone.

None of those deportees were from the countries where they were sent, according to the documents.

The flights also included people from Iran, Nepal, Turkey and Venezuela, and African detainees not from the destination countries.

The previously unreported documents describe an intensifying U.S. campaign of third-country deportation agreements.

More than 30 countries have agreed to receive such U.S. deportations.

African countries that have brokered such deals include the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan.

The latest of the three ICE flights dropped detainees in Sierra Leone and the Central African Republic.

Latin American countries that have agreed include Costa Rica, Panama and Paraguay.

Eswatini, the Central African Republic and Liberia have received detainees from Latin America, Europe and Asia.

Some deportees sent to Africa have criminal records, including people sent to Eswatini and South Sudan who were imprisoned there for violent U.S. crimes.

Many deportees sent to other countries lack criminal histories beyond illegal entry or lacking documents.

Ghana and Sierra Leone appear to have agreed only to accept deportees from other places in Africa.

The Central African Republic has longstanding armed conflict and a presence of Russian mercenaries.

In August 2025 a U.S. immigration judge granted Khalil withholding of removal, finding he could face persecution in Afghanistan.

Withholding of removal barred ICE from returning Khalil to Afghanistan but did not legally prevent deportation to a third country.

Khalil was held by ICE for his entire time in the United States.

Khalil did not receive asylum because of a Biden-era policy that disqualified people who did not seek protection in other countries first.

The Trump administration has increasingly sought to deport people with withholding of removal to third countries.

Zachary Schmidt, an active-duty Marine colonel, supervised Khalil's brother during a deployment to Afghanistan.

Schmidt testified in Khalil's immigration court case.

CBS News is not disclosing Khalil's surname because his family fears Taliban targeting.