Biden Admin Flying Deported Cameroonians Back Into US

The Biden administration is reversing deportations for some of the nearly 100 Cameroonians whose asylum claims were found to be invalid during the Trump administration and flying them back to the United States, The Washington Free Beacon reported.

Roughly one-third of the estimated 80 to 90 Cameroonians who were deported between 2019 and 2021 are being shepherded back into the country under a Biden administration policy not announced to the public, according to the Free Beacon.

It's another example of the Biden administration's rollback of nearly every one of former President Donald Trump's immigration policies, according to the report.

"Gutting deportations isn't enough for the Biden administration, so now they're apparently bringing back previously deported illegal aliens," director of investigations at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) Jon Feere told the Free Beacon. "These are people who have already had their cases closed, one way or another, and they've been returned home."

The Free Beacon also cited memos it had obtained showing Immigration and Customs Enforcement staff under Biden working with nonprofits to relocate the deported Cameroonians back into the U.S. Those memos reveal a Biden administration motive of avoiding a "potential lawsuit" related to alleged abuses suffered by the Cameroonians upon their return to their country.

However, no court ordered the Cameroonians' return to the U.S., according to the Free Beacon.

"These individuals were deported by the order of a court after they were afforded all due process rights," former ICE chief of staff Tom Blank told the Beacon. "For DHS to arbitrarily reverse court orders to satisfy complaints from an activist group makes a joke out of the entire legal immigration process. It looks like outside activist groups now run the DHS immigration process instead of the courts."

Citing a current ICE official, the Beacon reported at least four Cameroonian migrants have been flown back to the mid-Atlantic region since March. Citing a memo, the Free Beacon reported that up to another 28 will be flown back. What's unclear is how many have already returned, according to the report.

In the aftermath of a Human Rights Watch report in February 2022 that documented the abuse of the 80 to 90 Cameroonians, whose initial asylum claims fell short in the U.S., Department of Homeland Security Director Alejandro Mayorkas granted Temporary Protected Status, or "Amnesty Lite," according to CIS, to an estimated 11,700 Cameroonians in the U.S. illegally two months later.

"The intent behind TPS is to prevent negative immigration consequences when events outside of your control prevent you from departing the United States when required under the terms of your visa," CIS wrote then. "That Mayorkas is emphasizing work permits underscores how the Biden administration views TPS as a vessel to enhance the lives of illegal aliens in the country rather than enforcing our immigration laws."