Thirty-six Africans deported from the United States to Cameroon in 2026 have initiated legal proceedings in Yaoundé seeking legal protection from Cameroon and the suspension of the migration agreement with Washington, their lawyer announced Wednesday.

These deportations took place under a controversial US program to send foreign nationals in an irregular situation in the United States to third countries.

The complaint filed with the Yaoundé Administrative Court aims to "suspend the migration agreement" concluded with the United States, to allow the 36 expelled people to request legal protection from Cameroon and thus a status allowing them to reside there legally.

Its main aim is to avoid any expulsion to their country of origin, Mr. Fru Awah said in a statement sent to AFP.

"Cameroon cannot be used as a transit country to send people back to persecution or torture," the lawyer denounced.

Originating from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ghana, Angola, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Senegal, Zimbabwe and Morocco, these 36 people were protected by US justice against deportation to their country of origin, and were deported to Cameroon between January and May 2026. They now risk deportation to their country of origin from Cameroon.

Since their arrival in Yaoundé, these people, who live in a center run by the Cameroonian authorities in conjunction with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), remain "deprived of identity documents and clear legal status", and are "subject to movement restrictions", according to Mr. Fru Awah.

Cameroon is among the African countries that have agreed to take in people expelled from the United States, including the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Rwanda, South Sudan, Eswatini, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sierra Leone.

The Trump administration argues that, although it cannot return these people to their countries of origin, nothing prevents it from sending them to third countries.

An AFP investigation has shown that the United States has offered deals worth millions of dollars and brandished the threat of visa restrictions to encourage third countries, particularly in Africa, to accept deported people, whether African or from other continents.