Somali National News Agency
So
Ar
Search
  • Home
  • Local News
    Local NewsShow More
    Somali Minister of Ports Joins Global Leaders at Istanbul Transport Connectivity Forum
    June 27, 2025
    Djibouti Erupts in Grand Celebration Marking 47 Years of Independence
    June 27, 2025
    President Hassan Sheikh Sends Congratulatory Message to Djibouti, Reaffirming Strong Bilateral Ties
    June 27, 2025
    Djibouti Marks 48th Anniversary of Independence Amidst Celebrations and Historical Reflection
    June 27, 2025
    Joint Somalia Operation Decimates Al-Shabaab Leadership Hub and Arms Cache in Aden Yabaal
    June 27, 2025
  • World News
    World NewsShow More
    Protests intensify in Los Angeles after Trump deploys hundreds of National Guard troops
    June 9, 2025
    31 Palestinians are killed heading to a Gaza aid site, witnesses say. Israel denies responsibility
    June 7, 2025
    Hajj Season 1446 AH: Synergy Between Technology and Humanity in Serving the Guests of Allah
    June 6, 2025
    Machine Gun, AK-47 Rifles Recovered as 4 Al-Shabaab Terrorists are Killed in Garissa
    June 3, 2025
    Israel kills 2 Gaza aid seekers as UN warns of ‘catastrophic hunger’
    May 31, 2025
  • Articles
    ArticlesShow More
    Reviving Somalia’s Tourism and Hospitality Sector: A Path Toward Economic Resilience and Cultural Renaissance
    June 21, 2025
    Somalia’s Strategic Path in a Resurgent China-Africa Partnership
    June 12, 2025
    Remarks on Somalia’s participation in the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo
    June 13, 2025
    Hajj Season 1446 AH: Synergy Between Technology and Humanity in Serving the Guests of Allah
    June 6, 2025
    Wind power turbines line a mountain range in Ji’an, Jiangxi province, July 9, 2022.
    What China’s climate action means for the planet’s future?
    June 5, 2025
  • Business
    BusinessShow More
    Somalia Unveils the Blueprint for a Modern and Sustainable Mogadishu
    December 21, 2024
    Djibouti Launches $57.4 Million Youth Entrepreneurship Project to Combat Climate Change
    November 25, 2024
    FM meets Minister of Investment of Saudi Arabia
    October 28, 2024
    President Hassan Sheikh Inaugurates New LPG Storage Center in Mogadishu
    May 12, 2024
    Collaboration of ICT transformation for digital Infrastructure
    October 24, 2023
  • Sports
    SportsShow More
    Mogadishu Stadium to Host Star-Studded Match Featuring Somali Legends and International Football Icons
    May 27, 2025
    Arsenal held at Brighton while Man City bounce-back continues
    January 5, 2025
    Galmudug wins the Inter-State Football Tournament
    January 29, 2024
    Somalia set for two int’l friendlies ahead of WC qualifier clashes against Algeria and Uganda
    October 10, 2023
    Chicago woman, 104, skydives from plane, aiming for record as the world’s oldest skydiver
    October 3, 2023
  • Tenders
    TendersShow More
    Quay Renovation Works – Supply and Installation of Fenders and Bollards
    April 11, 2025
Reading: Trump sends African asylum seekers to Kenya in night flight
Share
Font ResizerAa
Somali National News AgencySomali National News Agency
  • SOMALI
  • ARABIC
Search
  • Home
  • Local News
  • World News
  • Articles
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Tenders
Follow US
©2023 || All rights reserved SONNA
Somali National News Agency > Blog > News > Trump sends African asylum seekers to Kenya in night flight
News

Trump sends African asylum seekers to Kenya in night flight

By Osman
Last updated: January 17, 2021
7 Min Read
Share

The Trump administration is continuing to deport African asylum seekers in its last few days before the inauguration of Joe Biden, who has promised a 100-day suspension of deportations, amid allegations of abuse of detainees, insufficient legal protections and inadequate precautions against Covid infection.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) confirmed a “removal flight” left Louisiana on Thursday bound for Nairobi. The charter plane believed to be carrying Somali, Ethiopian and Kenyan deportees made a refuelling stop in Sofia. Immigrant support activists believe the deportees were transferred to commercial planes in Nairobi for transfer to other countries.

There are mounting concerns that there could be a final deportation flight to Africa as late as Tuesday – the day before Biden takes office – as part of a systematic effort by Ice to move as many African asylum seekers as possible out of the country before the end of the zealously anti-immigrant Trump administration.

The last few months of 2020 saw a rise in deportations of African nationals, despite ongoing political and sectarian violence in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other countries to which deportees were returned.

Some of the deportees had open legal cases while others, according to their lawyers and immigrant advocacy groups, had not been given a fair hearing by immigration judges appointed by the justice department.

There were repeated allegations that detainees were forced, sometimes with beatings, into signing documents waiving their rights to further legal hearings. Many of the Cameroonians deported on earlier flights remain unaccounted for after their return.

Furthermore, Ice deportations have peaked during the coronavirus pandemic, requiring deportees to be packed together at close quarters.

According to the watchdog group Witness at the Border, Thursday’s deportation flight left from an airfield at Alexandria, Louisiana, which has a holding centre run by Ice.

According to one source there were 50 Somalis, two Ethiopians and a Kenyan being held at the Alexandria Ice centre before Thursday’s flight.

Two alongside the plane, chartered from Omni Air International, which has supplied planes for previous Ice deportation flights. Witness at the Border reported that people in chains were seen boarding. The plane flew to the Bulgarian capital overnight, and then on to Kenya, landing in Nairobi just after 8am.

“With each deportation to Africa, Ice and Omni take more steps to hide their flights. This time it was under the cover of night,” Tom Cartwright, who tracks flights for Witness at the Border, said.

“The other steps Ice and Omni have taken to make these flights as opaque as possible is that they now do not file a public flight plan, not even in the US.”

Lawyers and advocacy groups have said there were signs that a final deportation flight to Africa, could be in preparation for the last full day of the Trump presidency, on Tuesday.

However, they said Ice was increasingly careful to disguise its moves ahead of flights to avoid legal efforts to stop them, so it remained uncertainty whether this final flight would go ahead.

Efforts to get details of the fate of the deportees from Kenya’s Interior ministry were fruitless.
According to the Migration Policy Institute as of 2018, there were 11 million unauthorised immigrants living in the United States,

In November 2019, at least 182 undocumented Kenyans living in the US were arrested together with thousands of other immigrants.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said in a press release that the immigrants were seized because they had arrest records prior to applying for legal status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

DACA is a programme enacted under President Barack Obama’s administration in 2012 to allow immigrants brought in as children in the US, to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred deportation.

Immigrants from 78 countries globally were rounded up according to the USCIS report, with Mexico recording the highest number of illegal immigrants arrested at 91,272, while Mali, New Zealand, and Taiwan had the least number at 21.

A total of 118,371 foreigners were arrested, out of whom 464 are of unknown descent.

Africa registered 1,100 DACA applicants incarcerated. Kenya had the second-highest number at 209 incarcerated persons, behind Nigeria.

The annual cost of deporting aliens is estimated to be $303.7 billion (Sh30 trillion).

“The release of this report reflects the agency’s ongoing focus on transparency. The report provides updated information on known arrests and apprehensions of DACA requestors. The data may include arrests that did not result in convictions or where the charges were dropped or otherwise dismissed,” said USCIS.

Outgoing President Trump advanced the fight against illegal immigrants in his tenure, even seeking unsuccessfully to exclude undocumented immigrants from being counted in congressional districts census.

However, the US Supreme Court rejected the attempt to ask respondents if they are US citizens in 2019. The administration was only allowed to collect information on citizenship status by other means.

Once the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the administration issued an order in March 2020 mandating the rapid expulsion of most migrants arriving at US borders without authorisation to enter—without formal removal orders or opportunities to apply for asylum.

A quarter of the immigrants reside in California, followed by Texas, New York and Florida.

Source:  The Guardian

Share This Article
Facebook Whatsapp Whatsapp Email Copy Link Print

MORE NEWS

Official Reopening of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Archives

CultureEducationLocal News
November 23, 2024

Kenya’s small farmers find respite in avocados amid changing climate

NAIROBI(SONNA) As crop diseases and pests rise in Kenya amid a rapidly changing climate that…

March 11, 2023

Al-Shabaab Mafia Inc.: The Groundbreaking Somali-Led Revelation That Shattered the Terrorist Group’s Secrecy

Editorial Review, SONNA — on Al-Shabaab Mafia Inc: The Book Al-Shabaab Swore to Burn Al-Shabaab…

June 28, 2025

Nimcaan Hilaac appointed to lead Waberi National Band

Mogadishu (SONNA)-Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism of the Federal Republic of Somalia, H.E. Mohamed…

March 3, 2020

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

Cabinet approves 2021 government budget

Mogadishu (SONNA)-The Council of Ministers of the Federal Government of Somalia, held a fruitful meeting on Thursday on the approval…

NewsNews BulletinPoliticsWorld News
October 30, 2020

Somalia flight ban hits miraa growers hardest

The Somalia government has suspended all cargo and passenger flights into the country, dealing a big blow to local miraa…

News
March 19, 2020

United States Statement on the Crash of Food Assistance Flight in Beledweyne

Beledweyne(SONNA)-The United States Embassy in Mogadishu notes with regret that a flight crashed on July 14 in Beledweyne while delivering…

News
July 15, 2020

Ministry of Health confirms the first case of Coronavirus

Mogadishu(SONNA)-Ministry of Health and Human Service of the Federal Republic of Somalia has confirmed the first case of Coronavirus (COVID-19)…

News
March 16, 2020

Somali National News Agency established in 1964. It is one of the main pillars of the Ministry of Information, Culture, and Tourism.

  • Home
  • Local News
  • World News
  • Articles
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Tenders
  • SNTV
  • RADIO MOGADISHU
  • DALKA JOURNAL
  • TOURISM DEPARTMENT

Follow US: 

  • MoICT
  • VILLA SOMALIA
  • OPM SOMALIA

All rights reserved SONNA

©2023

Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?