Four Cubans, one Brazilian and one Cameroonian were deported from the US on a flight to Liberia on August 20, but refused to disembark in Monrovia. Some were allegedly assaulted by ICE agents who forced them back onto the plane, and instead of being returned to the US as promised, they were flown to Equatorial Guinea and taken to a former luxury hotel turned detention center in Malabo. Lawyers say they remain held under armed guard with restricted food, no hygiene items, no medical care, and no ability to contact family, and several had previously been granted withholding of removal by US immigration judges due to risk of persecution or torture in their home countries. Lawyer Meredyth Yoon said the case appears to be the first instance of deportees being sent to a third country, refusing to disembark, and then being deported to a fourth country on the same flight, adding that their families are terrified for their safety. About 60 other people, mostly from African countries, have also been deported to Equatorial Guinea since November, part of a broader US program that has sent more than 23,000 people to 26 countries other than their own since last year.