Gay asylum seeker says US deported her to country where homosexuality is illegal: ‘What it did to me was…’

A Moroccan woman who fled violence in her homeland because of her sexual orientation says she was deported from the United States to a country where being gay is a crime, even though she received legal protection from a U.S. judge.The 21-year-old, who was known only as Farah for safety reasons, told the AP she was first sent to Cameroon, where homosexuality is illegal, then back to her home country and now back in Morocco where she is hiding.In Morocco, where homosexuality is punishable by up to three years in prison, Farah said her life was in danger because of her sexual orientation. Before fleeing, she said her family and her partner’s family beat her and later tried to kill her when they discovered their relationship. She was forced to leave her home and travel to a new city with her partner to escape further violence.With the help of friends, she and her partner obtained visas to Brazil, then traveled through six countries to the U.S. border, where they applied for asylum in early 2025. “You’re in a really dire situation,” Farah said. She added: “When we got to the (U.S. border) it felt like the trouble was worth it and we had achieved our goal.”Instead of going free, Farah was held in immigration detention for nearly a year, first in Arizona and then in Louisiana. She described the centers as very cold, with only thin blankets, and said medical services were inadequate.Although she was denied asylum, an immigration judge in the United States later issued a protection order, ruling that returning her to Morocco would endanger her life. Her partner did not receive a protection order and was deported.Farah said just three days before she was to be released, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained her and put her on a flight to Cameroon, a country she had never visited and where homosexuality is illegal. She is being held in a detention center there. “They asked me if I wanted to stay in Cameroon and I told them I couldn’t stay in Cameroon and risk my life in a place where I would still be threatened,” she said. She later flew back to Morocco.Farah is one of many people confirmed to have been deported from the United States to a third country despite receiving a protection order from a U.S. immigration judge. Lawyers say the Trump administration is using these third-country deportations to force immigrants who are in the country illegally to leave on their own.Legal experts say sending people with protective orders to countries where they face serious harm violates U.S. immigration laws, international treaties and due process rights. “By deporting them … the United States is violating not only their due process rights, but our own immigration laws,” said immigration attorney Alma David.Farah said the experience was unfair and cruel. “America was built on immigrants and immigrant labor, so we’re obviously not all a threat,” she said. She added: “It’s unfair what was done to me… just to be deported in this way, it’s cruel.”