ICE Re-Detains Yugar-Cruz for Deportation to Congo

fact_check Facts

1. In July 2023, Jose Yugar-Cruz arrived at the Arizona-Mexico border, turned himself in to Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, and requested asylum.

2. In January 2025, after being denied asylum, Jose Yugar-Cruz was granted a withholding of removal order by a federal judge who found it more likely than not he would face torture or persecution if returned to his home country.

3. About 4,000 migrants received withholding of removal orders last year preventing their deportation to their home countries after judges found they would likely face torture or persecution if returned.

4. Jose Yugar-Cruz remained detained for a year during his legal battle following the granting of his withholding of removal order.

5. A federal judge ruled that Immigration and Customs Enforcement may deport Jose Yugar-Cruz to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

6. Jose Yugar-Cruz

   "I feel truly, truly devastated by what is happening to me," said Jose Yugar-Cruz from ICE detention in Iowa.

7. Jose Yugar-Cruz

   "It is a country I don't know, I have no family there, I don't speak their language — as far as I understand I think it's French. I don't know what the process will be like there, I don't know if I'll continue to be detained," said Jose Yugar-Cruz.

8. Jose Yugar-Cruz

   "I keep thinking it's a nightmare that I will wake up from," said Jose Yugar-Cruz.

9. A withholding of removal order does not create a pathway to legal residence in the United States and allows for third-country deportations.

10. Beginning in February 2025, the Trump administration began signing agreements with countries to accept third-country deportees while seeking to arrest and remove those granted withholding of removal orders.

11. Marco Rubio, Secretary of State

    "We are working with other countries to say, 'We want to send you some of the most despicable human beings to your countries. Will you do that as a favor to us?' And the further away from America the better, so they can't come back across the border," said Marco Rubio.

12. Third-country deportees have been sent to Ghana, Cameroon, South Sudan and El Salvador.

13. Many third-country deportees were returned to their home countries despite U.S. judges' rulings that they would likely face torture or persecution there.

14. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the Democratic Republic of the Congo provided diplomatic assurances that deportees sent there would not be persecuted or tortured.

15. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of 28 countries that accept third-country deportees.

16. The administration is considering a plan to resettle 1,000 Afghan evacuees living in Qatar who fought alongside U.S. troops to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

17. The Qatar-based camp was initially intended as an expedited processing hub to grant eligible refugees permanent legal status in the United States.

18. On April 17, a group of 15 South American deportees arrived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

19. "The arrangement is \"strictly transitory, temporary, and limited in time.\"

20. Yael Schacher, director for the Americas and Europe, Refugees International

    "They're sold to other countries as temporary. The vast majority of these folks are going to leave, or be repatriated," said Yael Schacher, director for the Americas and Europe at Refugees International.

21. At least one South American deportee, a woman from Colombia, has been granted legal protections from deportation.

22. Jose Yugar-Cruz, who asked for withholding of removal to protect him, fled from South America.

23. Since the start of 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has attempted unsuccessfully to remove Jose Yugar-Cruz to Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Mexico and Canada.

24. Earlier in 2026, a federal court ruled that Jose Yugar-Cruz’s 17-month detention was unlawful, and he was released from ICE custody for three months.

25. In April 2026, after receiving notice that the Democratic Republic of the Congo would accept him, Jose Yugar-Cruz was detained again by ICE.

26. Jose Yugar-Cruz

    "I was starting to live in freedom, but they detained me again," said Jose Yugar-Cruz.

27. Jose Yugar-Cruz

    "I lost my mother while detained," said Jose Yugar-Cruz.

28. Jose Yugar-Cruz

    "I can't help my children," said Jose Yugar-Cruz.

29. Jose Yugar-Cruz

    "I feel like a person who has no value," said Jose Yugar-Cruz.

30. Jose Yugar-Cruz was listed on the manifest for the first deportation flight to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in mid-April, but his federal court case delayed his removal.

31. The Migration Policy Institute estimates that the Department of Homeland Security deported about 15,000 people to third countries between January 20 and December 31, 2025, of which 13,000 were sent to Mexico.

32. The Department of Homeland Security said it had deported more than 605,000 people since President Trump returned to office.

33. Ariel Ruiz Soto, senior policy analyst, Migration Policy Institute

    "Even small numbers of people being sent to other countries in chains made it much more visible than in the past for people to be essentially scared into saying 'this could be me, this could happen to me,'" said Ariel Ruiz Soto.

34. The Department of Homeland Security is facing a class-action lawsuit from immigrants granted withholding of removal, arguing they should be allowed to raise concerns of persecution or torture in a third country before removal.

35. A lower court placed a stay on third-country removals while litigation was pending, but the Supreme Court lifted the stay in June 2025.

36. In February 2026, a district court ruled that DHS's third-country removal practices were unlawful, but the ruling was stayed pending the government's appeal, allowing deportations to continue.

37. A federal judge described the Supreme Court's ruling as "all but fatal to Yugar-Cruz's claim," leaving him with "little choice but to deny" the motion to release him from detention.

38. Jose Yugar-Cruz

    Jose Yugar-Cruz said ICE agents have not given him a date for his departure.

39. Alison Griffith, Attorney

    Alison Griffith said her team asked ICE to send Jose Yugar-Cruz to a Spanish-speaking country closer to his home instead of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but ICE refused.

40. Jose Yugar-Cruz

    "I still have faith that maybe some miracle could happen in my case and that they would give me my freedom again," said Jose Yugar-Cruz.

41. Jose Yugar-Cruz

    "I am grateful to all those people who helped me," said Jose Yugar-Cruz.