Religious leaders in the Central African Republic say they were stunned by the arrival Friday (June 12) of migrants deported from the United States to their country without cultural or familial ties, questioning why people who fled religious and political persecution were sent to a nation still grappling with its own history of sectarian violence and instability.
The U.S. government flew at least two dozen migrants from countries including Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, Armenia and Georgia to Bangui, the Central African Republic’s capital, as part of the Trump administration’s third-country deportation agreements with several African and Latin American countries.
Human rights groups and immigration lawyers say several of those deported had established credible fears of persecution in their home countries, including torture, imprisonment and death. Among them were Christian converts at risk and at least one Iranian pro-democracy activist who could face severe punishment if returned to Iran for her political activity and religious beliefs.
“I was surprised to hear that migrants who fled persecution in their own countries had been deported to ours,” Jean Ngaba, an evangelical pastor in southern Central African Republic, told Religion News Service.
Some of the deportees had been granted withholding of removal, a legal protection preventing their deportation to their countries of origin because of the risk of persecution. Rather than being returned home, they were transferred to the Central African Republic under a bilateral agreement between Washington and Bangui. Advocacy groups have expressed concern that the migrants could face onward refoulement, meaning they could eventually be sent back to the countries they originally fled.
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In particular, the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund has warned that deporting Iranians to the Central African Republic is potentially fatal, pointing to close ties between the African country and Moscow, a key ally of Iran.
“The Central African Republic is poor and still trying to heal after years of conflict between Christians and Muslims,” said Ngaba, who works on local grassroots peace and reconciliation initiatives. “It is inhumane for any government to do this to people who have already suffered because of their beliefs or political views.”
So far, no church, mosque or faith-based charity has been formally tasked with receiving the deportees, although religious leaders interviewed by RNS said they would be willing to help if asked.
“As religious leaders, we are ready to assist them if we are called upon or if we meet them,” said Ngaba.
According to immigration advocates and officials familiar with the operation, the deportees are being temporarily housed in apartments in Bangui while authorities determine their next steps. Their long-term future remains uncertain, and the Central African government has not publicly clarified whether they will remain in the country or eventually seek asylum elsewhere. The International Organization for Migration is providing post-arrival humanitarian assistance at the request of the Central African government but has stressed that it is not involved in the U.S. deportation process itself.
Cardinal Dieudonné Nzapalainga, the Catholic archbishop of Bangui and an internationally recognized advocate for interfaith peace, said he was aware of the arrivals but was still gathering information about the situation. The cardinal said the Catholic Church would be willing to assist the migrants if called upon, reflecting the church’s commitment to helping people in need.
Muslim leaders have also voiced concern over the deportations.
Cleric Moussa Ibrahim, a Bangui-based Muslim leader who has worked to promote peace and reconciliation, said many of the deportees had escaped religious persecution only to arrive in a country with its own complex history of sectarian tensions.
“Most of these people escaped persecution because of their beliefs,” Ibrahim said. “But here in the Central African Republic, we have a long history of religious violence because of conflict and weak state authority. Muslims have fought Christians and Christians have fought Muslims.”
For more than a decade, the country has experienced repeated cycles of violence involving the predominantly Muslim Séléka coalition and the largely Christian and animist Anti-Balaka militias. Although a ceasefire reached in late 2025 reduced large-scale fighting, insecurity remains a challenge in parts of the country where armed groups continue to operate. According to the Open Doors World Watch List 2026, the Central African Republic remains among countries where Christians face significant persecution, particularly in areas where government control is weak.
Ibrahim questioned how the migrants would rebuild their lives in a country facing enormous economic and social challenges.
“How are they going to survive here?” he asked. “Will they stay temporarily or eventually move somewhere else? These are the questions we are asking as religious leaders because opportunities are limited, and the environment can be difficult for both Christians and Muslims, especially for people who have converted from one faith to another.”
The arrival of the deportees has also raised broader humanitarian questions in the Central African Republic, where many communities continue to struggle with poverty, displacement and the lingering effects of conflict.
While the long-term future of the deportees remains uncertain, Ngaba said people of faith have a responsibility to welcome those who have lost their homes and communities.
“They have already suffered enough,” Ngaba said. “If they come to us, we will welcome them because that is what our faith teaches us. Before they are migrants or deportees, they are human beings, and every human being deserves compassion and dignity.”
Tonny Onyulo is a freelance print and broadcast journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya, and a contributor to Religion News Service.
16 Responses
Sending people who have escaped persecution and/or danger to a third country where they have no connections and even fewer resources and services is just plain cruel.
Somewhere along the way, the Trump administrations evangelical base became supportive of such cruelty
The way of Jesus is not the way of cruelty and a watching world can see the hypocrisy.
Jesus said to obey the authorities, who are put there by God to maintain order. Order was not what we had with border chaos, where many criminals wrongly entered and victimized Americans. There is a path to citizenship and always has been, but it doesn’t start by entering the country illegally
Intentionally sending people to a country they are not from is cruelty. And they know this. They are intentionally TRYING to be known for their cruelty in order to act as a deterrent. This is, ironically, also why the Romans publicly executed people by hanging them on a cross in the most gruesome killing known to man.
Matthew 21:1: “2 He said to them, “Go to the town you can see there. When you enter it, you will find a donkey with her colt. Untie them both, and bring them to me. 3 If anyone asks you why you are taking the donkeys, tell them, ‘The Master needs them. He will send them back soon.’”
Jesus STOLE the Donkey he rode into Jerusalem on “Palm Sunday”.
Luke 22:36: “36 Jesus said to them, “But now if you have money or a bag, carry that with you. If you don’t have a sword, sell your coat and buy one. 37 The Scriptures say, ‘He was considered a criminal.’:
(In this, he is telling his disciples to make sure they are armed for when the Roman soldiers come to arrest him to fulfill the scriptural prophesy that he was considered “among the lawless” and a criminal. When Peter actually USES that sword in his defense, Jesus rebukes him and puts his ear back on.)
Jesus is not the “Law and Order Savior” that some try to paint him as. God ALLOWS us to have laws, but those do not supersede the divine instructions we receive from Jesus on how to treat people.
Wow. I’m no apologist for Trump (and not even American) but Brandon, I have to respond to your misguided interpretation of Scripture.
The passage you quote from Matthew 21 includes the phrase (in your translation): “he will send them back soon”.
It’s clear that the animals’ master was expecting the request to BORROW his horse and colt.
That is obviously not stealing and it shocks me that you accuse Jesus of this.
Further, in Luke 22, it says he was CONSIDERED or, in some translations, “counted (as)”. He was the victim of slander and false assumptions and accusations.
Jesus did NOT commit sin. Ever.
1st Peter 2:21:23, Hebrews 4:15, 1st John 3:5.
That’s not my point. You’re quite correct. Jesus did not commit sin. However the fact that Jesus took the Donkey’s without asking permission is written. The reason Jesus instructs his followers to respond “if anyone asks” is because the person asking would have asked, “hey, why are you taking those Donkeys that don’t belong to you?!?”
I’m intentionally exaggerating when I say Jesus stole the Donkey. Perhaps I shouldn’t do that when people might not be familiar with the story. But what would YOU call it if someone took something from you without asking, even if they said they were going to bring it back later? You said, “borrowed”, but “I didn’t steal it, I just borrowed it!” is even a common joke.
Jesus can’t steal because Jesus has authority over everything. However, if some Karen was standing there watching the thing unfold, they would have seen Jesus as being a criminal.
There is an infamous video where a reporter from The Daily Show is interviewing a woman at a MAGA rally and asks her if Jesus came back, would she allow him into America. And she replies, “Yes. IF he came in legally!”
My point is that Jesus is a wily figure who is constantly at odds with human society because he doesn’t adhere to human standards or conventions. Picking grain on the sabbath (in violation of mosaic law). Talking with women. Interfering with a legal stoning. Being found with armed men when he was arrested (intentionally to be seen as “with the lawless” and “among criminals”). There is nothing in the Gospel to suggest that Jesus is concerned with endorsing human laws.
When Jesus, King of Kings, returns, it’s not likely he will file “the necessary paperwork”.
Was the way they were just shipped off to a random country in line with international law? What about the immigration rules of the Central African Republic? Or do we just get to violate them because “we are the USA”?
Marin, why would international law have any material effect on this situation?
“Dear Jonas: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.
Denmark cannot protect [Greenland] from Russia or China, and why do they have a “right of ownership” anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also…
The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.” ~Donald Trump to the Prime Minister of Norway, Jan 18, 2026
Which does this sound like? Respect for international law, or Colonialism (boats landing, Terra Nullius, Manifest Destiny)?
Jesus didn’t say that.
Paul Correa’s pattern of thinking is troubling because it tacitly justifies or condones inhumane and cruel behavior in the name of “respect for the law”. Inflicting misery on individuals and families whose only “crime” is to be in the US “illegally”.
Okay, deport people, but why deliberately inflict cruelty by forcing them to a third country where they may not know the language and may become targets?
Such thinking rationalizes rules, ideology and even “biblical doctrine” to contradict Jesus’ teachings. Which takes precedence in the believer’s life? The law of the land or Jesus’ teachings and the Christ-like ethic?
Jesus said: “treat people the same way you want them to treat you” (Matthew 7:12). That is, don’t support others being treated in a manner you yourself wouldn’t want to be treated.
“There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice.” ~Charles-Louis de Secondat
“Woe to those who enact evil statutes and to those who constantly record unjust decisions, so as to deprive the needy of justice and rob the poor of My people of their rights, so that widows may be their spoil and that they may plunder the orphans.” (Isaiah 10:1-2)
“You tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!” ~Jesus
Paul, you seem to have missed several important sentences in the article.
1) Some of the deportees had been granted withholding of removal, a legal protection preventing their deportation to their countries of origin because of the risk of persecution.
2) Human rights groups and immigration lawyers say several of those deported had established credible fears of persecution in their home countries, including torture, imprisonment and death.
These immigrants were obeying the law or the authorities as you called them. They followed the correct path to citizenship so your argument is invalid. The authorities including the MAGA cult leader and his administration however were not obeying the law. These deportations were illegal since these deportees were granted withholding of removal.
If you believe in cruelty to immigrants, you clearly are like those from Sodom and Gomorrah who God condemned due to their inhospitality. Ezekiel 16:49 (New International Version) “‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. Sounds a lot like the current MAGA cult and leader. Perhaps instead of following the MAGA cult and its leader you should seek out the teaching of Jesus Christ and follow his teachings. You may want to start with Matthew 25:31-46 a parable from Jesus Christ. May it convict your heart and soul and turn you from the evil of the MAGA cult.
What about all those “welcome strangers” and “practice hospitality” passages in both testaments of the Bible? In sheer number of mentions, there are far more of those commands than the one single “obey authorities” passage American evangelicals hide behind to justify Trump’s cruelties.
At this stage we know very little about the individuals. The focus has been on the pro-democracy Iranian woman, who would face harm if returned to Iran. Focusing in her makes us have sympathy for all 20, yet we do not know the actual circumstances about her or the the other 19. Did she or the others have a criminal record in either the US or their home country? Surely a serious reporter would seek answers to such questions, and a reporter trying to garner sympathy would not.
If in fact these 20 have committed crimes in the US, but face harm if returned to their homeland, then perhaps their move to CAR is merciful (just wondering).
One thing for sure is that there is more to the story that the reporter has shown little interest in finding out.
Everyone agrees on secure borders, but not cruelty. Ever since the Trump administration has been back in office, it has been one cruel act after another regarding illegal immigrants (just the use of the Trump regime of the past term “illegal aliens” is meant to be abusive). It is hard to argue that racism isn’t at the heart of this when the Trump administration has allowed for the last six months just White South Africans to enter our country. The church not only has been silent on this, as the comments on this story continue to show, many have shown enthusiastic support of the Trump immigration policies, no matter how cruel or nonsensical they seem. Shame on the church. God will not be mocked. Judgment is coming.
While I’m all for treating people with kindness, I’m also for keeping our nation the place we know and love. We don’t do that when we allow just anyone, myself included (I am an immigrant) to enter without following the process prescribed by our immigration laws. It is easy to find cases that tug at our heart strings, but our government’s first responsibility is to its citizens. Not to every economic migrant who just wants a “better life”. Many asylum claims are proven fraudulant. Also the cost to the american taxpayer is enormous. The power grab by activist judges who think they have any role in immigration law is also a factor at play.
“Many” asylum claims have proved fraudulent? Really? Which ones? Do you have documentation for so-called fraudulent claims? Consider what countries these people are from. They’re not coming from Canada or France. They’re from the most oppressive places in the world, so the chance that their claims are fraudulent is zero.
Wes, you seem to have missed several important sentences in the article.
1) Some of the deportees had been granted withholding of removal, a legal protection preventing their deportation to their countries of origin because of the risk of persecution.
2) Human rights groups and immigration lawyers say several of those deported had established credible fears of persecution in their home countries, including torture, imprisonment and death.
These immigrants were following the process. They followed the correct path to citizenship so your argument is invalid. The authorities including the MAGA cult leader and his administration however were not obeying the law or following the process. These deportations were illegal since these deportees were granted withholding of removal.
You state you are all for treating people with kindness. If that is the case, then you should be against this cruelty. The government’s responsibility is to protect the citizens and that includes those on the path to citizenship who are documented to be fleeing torture, imprisonment, and death.
It is clear from several of your statements that you have fallen victim to the MAGA propaganda. These are not “economic migrants who just wants a ‘better life’.” Many asylum claims are documented and proven truthful. No “activist” judges were involved here. “Activist” judges are a made up far right hoax that is used only when cases are not decided in their favor. Should we talk about the “activist” judges who take away the rights of women to have an abortion or the “activist” judges who take away the rights of people to vote and be represented?
Perhaps you should start to read the Bible and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ instead of the propaganda of the MAGA cult and leader.