"Several of the men and women deported — whose cases have not been previously reported — told The Times they did not know they were being sent to Cameroon until they were handcuffed and chained on a Department of Homeland Security flight leaving Alexandria, La., on Jan. 14. ... Most of those migrants and their lawyers say they have been detained since then at a state-owned compound in Yaoundé, Cameroon’s capital. They say they’ve been told by local authorities that they cannot leave the facility unless they agree to return to their home countries, from which they fled to escape war or persecution. ... Among those now in the Yaoundé compound are people who said they escaped imprisonment for their political beliefs, survived wars and fled countries where their sexual orientations are criminalized. When officials from the United Nations’ International Organization of Migration, which is handling their cases, visited, the deportees say the officials told them there was no support for them to receive asylum in Cameroon. They felt that their sole option was to return to their home countries." (New York Times. 14 February 2026)