The Trump administration said on Friday it has begun efforts to return an Egyptian national to the United States following a federal court order. Ahmed Soliman was deported to Equatorial Guinea earlier this year, a country where he had no ties or connections. An Arizona district court judge ordered the Department of Homeland Security to bring him back and explain how it plans to do so.
Soliman had obtained a protective order from a U.S. immigration judge preventing his deportation to Egypt, where advocates said he could face persecution based on his sexual orientation. Instead, the administration sent him to Equatorial Guinea, which Freedom House characterizes as one of the world’s least free countries. According to court documents, Soliman has been held under armed guard, threatened at gunpoint, arrested, and beaten by local authorities.
Judge John Hinderaker, a Trump appointee, determined that the Department of Homeland Security violated the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment by removing Soliman to a third country without proper legal justification. The judge’s order emphasized the severe conditions Soliman has endured since his deportation. The Department of Homeland Security stated it would comply with lawful court orders while maintaining that Soliman would not ultimately remain in the United States.
The case represents only the second instance in which a judge has forced the government to reverse a third-country deportation to an African nation. This development comes as the U.S. Supreme Court recently allowed the administration to resume such deportations while agreeing to hear arguments on the practice’s legality in December. Critics argue that third-country removals violate international treaties against torture and basic due process protections, while the administration contends such policies are necessary components of its immigration enforcement strategy.
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