A flight meant to deport Cameroonian asylum seekers from the United States of America has been halted at the last minute.
The news was confirmed by the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, BAJI which advocates for the rights of African Americans and black immigrants, just an hour before it was set to take off.
“We have confirmation that the ICE deportation flight with Africans from Cameroon, Angola & DRC has been canceled,” it announced on social media.
The next move, BAJI said, was to “… demand that they and others in detention are released and given permanent protection from deportation”.
It further expressed its desire for all other programmed deportations to be canceled.
“The fact that this flight was within an hour of taking off is horrendous. Thank you to Karen Bass … and all the others who worked to stop this injustice from reoccurring. Activism and mobilization work,” wrote Maxwell Bone, International politics and African Affairs writer.
Amnesty International US which has also been vocal over the planned deportations reacted to the halt, calling it big news.
“The families are safe. They will not be deported tomorrow. Thank you for helping make this possible!” It tweeted.
The next step, the human rights body added, would be to “free people – including these and all families – from ICE detention”.
The suspension of the flight meant to deport the asylum seekers comes as a surprise to many, given that many others had been deported in the Trump era.
To date, the whereabouts of those deported to Cameroon among whom were deserted soldiers and civil servants remains unknown.
Authorities had received them at the Douala International Airport under tight security, offering them medical care.
They were later transferred to an unknown destination and have not been seen or heard from since then. There are fears that the Biya regime known for its ruthlessness may have kept them in detention centers without any judicial process.
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