A Rescue in Equatorial Guinea, or Another Immigrant Expulsion?

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) charter flight is heading to Equatorial Guinea Thursday, two weeks after a federal judge ordered the return of a man expelled there under the Trump administration’s third-country removal program, according to documents obtained by the Prospect. It is unclear whether the plane is being sent to expel more immigrants to the authoritarian country, to retrieve the man—31-year-old Egyptian national Ahmed Soliman—or both. 

The documents show that a Boeing 767 operated by ICE charter Eastern Airlines will leave the United States on Thursday and make stops in Senegal, Equatorial Guinea, Burundi, and the Central African Republic. Senegal is often used by ICE-chartered aircraft to refuel and make crew changes; the other three countries are all known “host” countries in the Trump administration’s third-country removal network. 

“We are deeply concerned for Ahmed’s welfare. There is no doubt as to his location, and the government has the ability to bring him back to the United States, as they have been ordered to do,” one of his attorneys, Dana Camilleri, told the Prospect. “The government making a planned stop in Equatorial Guinea demonstrates that it can bring Ahmed home, and should do so immediately.”

ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, and the State Department did not immediately reply to questions about the flight and whether Soliman will be put on it. It also did not respond to questions about the legality of potentially sending more people to a country that has subjected third-country nationals to severe abuse, as has been widely reported.

Soliman was hospitalized in the island city of Malabo over the weekend after becoming seriously ill, according to his attorneys in a Tuesday court filing. The filing also said he was now back at the Hotel Bamy, where dozens of other third-country nationals are being imprisoned, despite his medical condition not improving. Soliman also has untreated injuries from a car accident that occurred when he was being transported from a local jail to the hotel several weeks ago, the filing said. 

“The government no longer has any plausible deniability as the human rights abuses are already well-documented. It is disturbing to consider that the government, as it hopefully picks up Ahmed, may also be removing others in his place who will be indefinitely detained at the Hotel Bamy, or worse, sent under duress to their home countries,” Camilleri said.

Arizona District Court Judge John C. Hinderaker, a Trump appointee, ordered the government to facilitate Soliman’s return to the United States earlier this month after ruling Soliman’s right to due process had been violated when he was forced onto an ICE charter flight in April and expelled to Equatorial Guinea. 

Late on Monday, Justice Department attorneys said the government intended to appeal, after dragging its heels on complying with the judge’s orders, blowing past at least one deadline for a status report, and providing minimal documentation about the steps it had taken to facilitate Soliman’s return. 

In a brief Monday filing, the government said for the second time that it was still trying “to confirm [Soliman]’s exact location.” Soliman’s attorneys responded by saying it had repeatedly sent the government updates whenever Soliman’s location changed but had never received a response, and that their repeated messages to the U.S. ambassador to Equatorial Guinea had also gone unanswered.

The filing did say that the government is “coordinating return efforts with both the State

Department and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS),” adding that U.S. Attorney for Arizona Timothy Courchaine is “working to streamline communication” with Soliman’s attorneys and ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations.

Even before the scheduled flight this week, flight data shows at least four ICE-chartered aircraft flying within a few hundred miles of Equatorial Guinea a total of eight times since October 8, any of which could have conceivably been directed by ICE to retrieve Soliman. One flight, also operated by Eastern Airlines, passed within about 15 miles of Malabo on October 13, flight data shows. 

Eastern Airlines is not related to the historic Eastern Air Lines, which ceased operations in 1991, other than that the new entity bought the unused trademark.

Soliman came to the United States with his family as a young child and was raised in Arizona. He lost his lawful permanent resident status after a conviction relating to an accident he caused while driving under the influence of drugs in 2021. An immigration judge had previously ruled Soliman could not be deported to Egypt because he was likely to face harm due to his family’s political affiliation and because he is gay. 

Soliman has previously told media, including the Prospect, that he turned to drugs as a young man to deal with feelings of shame about being gay, but that he has since recovered from his addiction issues and accepted his identity. 

At least 63 third-country nationals have been sent to Equatorial Guinea since last November via at least six ICE-chartered flights, where they have reported being beaten, threatened, held at gunpoint, and deprived of food, water, hygiene products, and medical care. All are believed to have had legal protections barring deportation to their countries of origin due to harms they faced there, yet about half have been forced back to those countries anyway—a maneuver called chain refoulement that is barred under U.S. and international law.