ICE seeks to deport Iranian woman in Georgia to Central African Republic

Called third-country deportations, the policy broke into the national consciousness in the spring of 2025, when the administration deported more than 100 Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador, where a maximum-security mega-prison awaited them.

Since then, the administration has vastly expanded the practice, securing agreements with dozens of mostly Latin American and African countries to get them to take in deportees — typically when the immigrants’ home countries refuse to accept them, or when a return to the home nation is blocked by a judge.

At least 35 countries have made deals with the U.S. to take in deportees, according to Third Country Deportation Watch, a monitoring group that tracks the agreements. The list of countries include several which the U.S. government warns citizens to avoid because war or violent criminal behavior is prevalent.

Some 22,000 people have been deported to third countries under Trump, the group estimates.

The practice has led to several federal lawsuits, drawing some judicial rebuke, though not from the U.S. Supreme Court. Many of the countries tapped by the administration for the program are unstable or autocratic, and there have been cases of deportees being stuck in indefinite detention abroad.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution interviewed the Iranian national selected for third-country removal during a Zoom call from ICE’s Stewart Detention Center in South Georgia. Marty Rosenbluth, her immigration attorney, shared a copy of the notice of removal sent to the woman by ICE.

“This letter is to inform you that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) intends to remove you to Central African Republic,” the Aug. 4 document says.

The AJC is withholding the woman’s name because she fears retaliation against her family remaining in Iran by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the powerful military and security apparatus that plays a central role in enforcing the Iranian government’s authority.

ICE did not respond to questions from the AJC about why the Central African Republic was picked as a destination for the Iranian woman, or when a possible deportation could take place.

The woman said she fled her home country because she feared for her life after converting to Christianity — an illegal and severely punished act in Iran. She entered the U.S. without authorization at the southern border in 2024 and settled in Atlanta after a brief time in custody, both she and her lawyer said.

In a statement to the AJC, the Department of Homeland Security also did not address the intended removal to the Central African Republic. A spokesperson described the woman as “an illegal alien” who “was released into the country, completely unvetted” by the Biden administration.

“The Trump Administration is utilizing all lawful options to carry out the largest deportation operation in history, just as President Trump promised,” the statement said.

The Iranian woman told the AJC she broke into tears when ICE informed her of the agency’s plan to deport her to the Central African Republic, a nation in the midst of a civil war.

“I just started shaking. I was just so scared,” she said. “I don’t have anyone (over) there. I don’t know the language, or anything. They’re trying to send me somewhere that I’ve never seen in my life. I’ve never been there.”

Credit: AP Photo/Kevin S. Vineys

Credit: AP Photo/Kevin S. Vineys

The woman said ICE detained her in June 2025.

An immigration judge issued an order blocking her deportation back to Iran in December, court records show. Dubbed a “withholding of removal” order, it’s the kind of relief granted to immigrants who can show “it is more likely than not your life or freedom would be threatened” in the home country, according to the Department of Justice agency that administers immigration courts.

But the order does allow ICE to arrange deportation “to a third country,” according to DOJ.

Agreement with Central African Republic

The Central African Republic agreed to take U.S. deportees earlier this year, joining other African nations including Ghana, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Cameroon, South Sudan, and others.

The agreements have cost the U.S. government millions of dollars.

To date, there have only been reports of two deportation flights to the Central African Republic. The first took place in June with deportees including an Iranian woman who said she was facing persecution in her home nation. The second occurred in late July.

Third Country Deportation Watch estimates 49 individuals were sent to the Central African Republic on those two flights. In the spring, the U.S. had awarded $85 million to a U.N.-affiliated agency for operations in the Central African Republic to cover “assistance to migrants” and “community stabilization.”

The Central African Republic is one of the countries that the U.S. warned citizens to avoid in a January travel advisory, which says “violent crime is common,” including “homicide, kidnapping, armed robbery, aggravated battery and larceny.” It also warned of unmarked unexploded landmines and terrorist groups.

“It’s not safe at all,” the Iranian woman in Georgia said. “Even the United States told their own people to not travel to this country … So why should I go?”

On July 13, another lawyer representing the Iranian woman at Stewart filed a lawsuit in Georgia federal court to compel ICE to release her from detention. It is unclear whether a decision will be made in that case before her possible removal to the Central African Republic.

Rosenbluth filed for a stay of removal in immigration court on Monday, trying to stop the deportation until she exhausts all legal avenues to be allowed to remain in the country.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to add a Department of Homeland Security statement, which was issued after initial publication.