Trump Administration Deportations Send Asylum Seekers to Equatorial Guinea’s Bamy Hotel Prison

Under an opaque $7.5 million deal with the Trump administration, Equatorial Guinea’s president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, turned the Bamy Hotel—owned by his family—into a prison for asylum seekers deported from the United States.

“Exclusive: Inside an African hotel where asylum seekers deported by the US are imprisoned Exclusive: Inside an African hotel where asylum seekers deported by the US are imprisoned MALABO, Equatorial Guinea (AP) — At first glance, the hotel looks like any other on this tropical island off the Central African coast, with its palm tree-lined driveway, marble-floored foyer and portrait of the oil-rich country’s president hanging behind a mahogany reception desk”

Associated Press

The Associated Press reported that of the at least 32 people imprisoned there since November, 25 were forced to go back to home countries across Africa where their lives might be in danger, while the rest faced pressure from authorities to leave.

Associated Press

A 26-year-old man from an East African country imprisoned at the hotel described how “Government people would come all the time and say: Where is your passport? You need to go back to your own country,” as he spoke on condition of anonymity.

The AP said the hotel is on the island of Bioko off the Central African coast, and that AP traveled there as part of a recent visit by the first American pope and was the only international news organization to visit the hotel detaining migrants.

The Associated Press reported that men and women from Angola, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Mauritania wander the hotel’s long corridors and look out at a shimmering pool they are not allowed to use.

The AP said the deportees “haven’t faced any physical abuse, but they feel intense psychological pressure knowing they are likely headed back to home countries they fear,” and it quoted the East African man saying, “I am scared and depressed.”

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch said the United States carried out mass expulsions of 299 third-country nationals to Panama between February 12 and 15, 2025, depriving them of the right to seek asylum through a regular process.

HRW’s Bill Frelick said, “The United States sent bound and chained people to a third country without giving them a chance to seek asylum,” and the group said the United States and Panama detained people in harsh conditions with no means of external communication.

The Associated Press said the Trump administration uses deportations to third countries as a legal loophole, with immigration lawyers saying it indirectly forces asylum seekers back to their home countries.

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OkayAfrica

It reported that the Trump administration declined to comment on the details of its deal with Equatorial Guinea, while a State Department spokesperson said, “we remain unwavering in our commitment to end illegal and mass immigration.”

OkayAfrica’s roundup for May 28, 2027 linked the Equatorial Guinea hotel detention to renewed human rights concerns, saying the agreement is reported to be worth $7.5 million and that at least 32 people have been detained at the Bamy Hotel since late last year.

HRW said the United States and Panama detained 299 third-country nationals in harsh conditions and that the report documents secret detention in Panama, where authorities confiscated phones, blocked visits, and isolated people from the outside world.