MALABO, Equatorial Guinea — Asylum seekers who won protection from U.S. immigration judges are being held prisoner in a hotel owned by the family of Equatorial Guinea's authoritarian president under an opaque $7.5 million deal with the Trump administration, according to an exclusive Associated Press investigation.
At least 32 people have been imprisoned at the Bamy Hotel since November 2025, all of whom had previously been granted protection by U.S. judges, according to their lawyers. Twenty-five have already been forced back to home countries across Africa where their lives might be in danger, while the rest face mounting pressure from authorities to leave.
Trapped in Fear
A 26-year-old man from an East African country, speaking anonymously out of fear of retaliation, described the psychological toll of detention. "Government people would come all the time and say: Where is your passport? You need to go back to your own country," he said. "I am scared and depressed." Because of his ethnicity and the fact he fled his home country, he said he would be imprisoned or killed if forced to return.
Men and women from Angola, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Mauritania are trapped at the hotel, wandering long corridors and looking out at a shimmering pool they are not allowed to use. While they have not faced physical abuse, they endure intense psychological pressure knowing they are likely headed back to home countries they fear. Human rights experts say all of the asylum seekers at the hotel face a high risk of persecution back home.
A Legal Loophole
The Trump administration uses deportations to third countries as a legal loophole to indirectly force asylum seekers back to their home countries, according to immigration lawyers. Under a series of murky and often-secret agreements, the administration has deported thousands of people to nearly two dozen countries that are not their own, according to advocates, as part of a broad U.S. crackdown on immigration. The countries with agreements are mostly in the developing world, including roughly a dozen in Africa, according to the group Third Country Deportation Watch. Experts say countries accepting the deportees may be doing so to earn goodwill in negotiations with the U.S. over trade, migration or aid.
The Trump administration declined to comment on the details of its deal with Equatorial Guinea. A State Department spokesperson said, "we remain unwavering in our commitment to end illegal and mass immigration." The Obiang administration did not respond to a request seeking comment.
Deteriorating Conditions
The East African man said he traveled from Africa to Brazil and arrived in August 2024 at the U.S. border, where he was detained. He was then shuffled between immigration centers in California, Arizona and Louisiana before landing in Equatorial Guinea almost six months ago. The deportees sleep in fancy rooms that rarely get cleaned and are served rice and meat at white cloth tables set up inside the hotel's restaurant. After being sickened by the food several times, he said he eats the bare minimum.
A local lawyer brings new toothbrushes, cellphone SIM cards and, for women, sanitary products. Medical care has been uneven. The East African man said he was driven to the hospital right away after complaining of an eye problem, but when he came down with malaria and typhoid, he was not taken to a hospital until his condition had greatly deteriorated, requiring an IV. Other detainees have had similar experiences.
After he complained to a police officer about his situation, the officer told him his problems would go away if he went to the hotel's fourth floor and jumped out the window. "What can I do now? It's become worse," he said. "I started losing my mind."
A Regime Built on Corruption
Equatorial Guinea is one of the richest countries in Africa because of its oil resources, but it is also rife with corruption and human rights abuses, according to U.S. officials. The country, a former Spanish colony, fell into economic despair after gaining independence 58 years ago, and its fate shifted in the 1990s when U.S. companies started drilling for oil along its vast coastline. The subsequent boom transformed the economy, yet over half the population still lives in poverty.
The country's oil-fueled wealth has been largely pocketed by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and his family, according to rights groups. Obiang's 57-year-old son and heir apparent, Teodoro "Teodorin" Obiang Nguema, chronicles his lavish lifestyle on TikTok, soaking in infinity pools, feasting on lobster and traveling on private jets, even as citizens of Equatorial Guinea are banned from the platform. The younger Obiang, who serves as vice president, has faced international sanctions because of corruption across his father's administration, but the U.S. lifted sanctions less than 1 year ago, allowing him to travel to a high-level U.N. meeting in New York last September, just weeks before the deportations to Equatorial Guinea began.
There are virtually no critical voices in Equatorial Guinea, where the government has been accused by rights groups and the U.S. State Department of detaining, torturing and even killing those that dare to speak out. The country's largest foreign investors are U.S. businesses and its military receives funding for training from the U.S. government.
Awaiting an Uncertain Fate
The deportees still at the Bamy Hotel know they can be sent home any day. Representatives of the U.N.'s International Organization for Migration and its refugee agency visited the hotel less than 1 year ago in November and promised the deportees they would come back, but they never did. The East African man is the only one among them who has been allowed to see a lawyer, though it is not clear why. Equatorial Guinea has no asylum policy, and his lawyer made a formal request with the prime minister's office, which was described as a long shot worth taking if there was any chance of being released from the hotel. He was told to plead for mercy with the country's vice president, but his asylum claim was rejected. The next morning, authorities deported five other people, leaving him anguished as he awaits his fate. He was told he would be next.
Because Equatorial Guinea is run by an authoritarian government, it is difficult for foreign journalists to visit and report directly on conditions there. AP traveled to the island of Bioko as part of a recent visit by the first American pope, and AP is the only international news organization to visit the hotel detaining migrants.
Why This Matters:
This investigation reveals how asylum seekers who won legal protection in U.S. courts are being systematically stripped of those rights through secretive deportation agreements with authoritarian regimes. The use of third-country deportations as a legal loophole undermines fundamental due process protections and places vulnerable people at risk of persecution in countries they fled. The arrangement enriches a regime accused of widespread human rights abuses while U.S. businesses remain the country's largest foreign investors and the U.S. government continues to fund military training. The psychological and physical toll on detainees, coupled with the lack of access to legal counsel or international oversight, demonstrates how immigration enforcement policies can circumvent judicial protections when conducted through opaque deals with governments that lack accountability. The fact that sanctions were lifted on Equatorial Guinea's vice president just weeks before deportations began raises questions about what diplomatic concessions may have facilitated this agreement.