A Cuban immigrant who lived and worked in Florida last year is now stranded in the Central African Republic after the Trump administration deported him and dozens of other migrants to the conflict-ridden African nation.
Yasmany Moreno de Armas, 31, said he only learned that he was being deported to the Central African Republic after arriving there in late July alongside detainees from several countries, including Ecuador, Honduras, Serbia, Russia and Vietnam.
“We cannot leave, we don’t have documents and we’re suffering and missing our families, in a continent we don’t know,” Moreno de Armas told CBS News in Spanish during a video call from Bangui, the country’s capital, where the deportees have been staying.
Asked whether he had ever heard of the Central African Republic before being sent there, he replied, “never.”
The Central African Republic is among the world’s poorest countries and has been plagued by armed conflict and political instability. Russian mercenaries have also operated in the country. The US State Department has issued a Level 4 travel advisory, urging Americans not to travel there because of widespread insecurity.
The Central African Republic is one of more than 30 countries that the US government has persuaded to accept deportees from third countries as part of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. The arrangement has increasingly involved African nations, including countries facing conflict, authoritarian rule and allegations of human rights abuses.
Another deportee, Eritrean national Zena Gebrgzabher, 39, is also stranded in the Central African Republic after being removed from the United States.
“I miss my family,” Gebrgzabher told CBS News.
He said his five-year-old son, who is a US citizen and lives with his mother in Maryland, asks about him almost every day.
Gebrgzabher said he worked as a truck driver in Maryland and regularly checked in with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement before his arrest.
His wife, Yrgalem Gehrehiwet, described his deportation as unfair and inhumane. She said their son, Nathan, has been particularly affected by his father’s absence.
“More than us because he loves his dad,” she told CBS News.
CBS News reported that it could not find criminal records for either Moreno de Armas or Gebrgzabher beyond traffic and immigration-related violations, including illegal entry into the United States.
Their cases reflect a broader Trump administration strategy of using agreements with third countries to remove migrants who cannot easily be returned to their countries of origin. Such arrangements have been used for migrants whose home countries reject or limit US deportations, as well as people who have received legal protections preventing their removal to countries where they could face danger.
The US Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to questions about the deportations or the terms of its agreement with the Central African Republic, including what the African country receives in exchange for accepting deportees.
Cuban Deportee Says He Fears Return to Cuba
Moreno de Armas said he could face danger if returned to Cuba, where he was previously imprisoned after attempting to leave the country.
Cuban government documents show that he was imprisoned for “illegal exit from the national territory” following his first attempt to flee the communist-ruled island.
He eventually reached Florida by boat in September 2016 and was admitted to the United States under the parole authority that Cuban arrivals benefited from under the former “Wet Foot, Dry Foot” policy.
Moreno de Armas later applied for a green card under the Cuban Adjustment Act but was denied because authorities determined that he filed the application after his parole had expired.
Without legal status, he was arrested by immigration officials in May 2025 and spent about a year in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody before being deported to Africa this summer.
Eritrean Man Had US Protection From Deportation to Eritrea
Gebrgzabher’s case was more complicated. An immigration judge ruled in 2017 that he was eligible for protection under the Convention Against Torture, barring his deportation to Eritrea.
Court records show he did not qualify for asylum because of his service as a checkpoint guard in the Eritrean military. Judges noted that he had been forcibly conscripted at the age of 18 but determined that his role at the checkpoint made him ineligible for asylum under rules concerning assistance in the persecution of others.
Gebrgzabher said he did not harm or arrest anyone at the checkpoint, but judges concluded that he had impeded the escape of political prisoners.
The records also indicate that he was imprisoned by the Eritrean military after overstaying his leave before fleeing the country. He later traveled to the US-Mexico border and sought asylum at a port of entry.
Although he was granted protection under the Convention Against Torture, that protection prevented his removal to Eritrea but did not legally bar the US government from deporting him to a third country.
Since arriving in the Central African Republic, both men said they have effectively become stranded in a country where they have no relatives, established connections or legal documents and do not speak the local language.
Moreno de Armas said deportees should not be sent to countries with which they have no connection.
“If you’re going to be deported, it should be to your home country, not to another country where you don’t know the culture,” he said.
