DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — In Miami, Daniela Fuentes styled hair for clients and performed in drag at a nightclub called Azúcar.
asserted
Fuentes → style → nightclub
She wore her blond wig in public and dressed as the woman she had known herself to be since adolescence in Cuba.
asserted
herself → wear → Cuba
Now, more than 6,000 miles (10,000 kilometers) away in the Central African Republic, she wears men’s clothes, lowers her voice and tries not to draw attention to the breasts she developed after beginning hormone treatment as a teenager.
asserted
she → wear → teenager
As part of U.S. efforts to deport people to countries other than their own, authorities sent her Aug. 29 to a place where she has no ties and where advocacy groups have reported arbitrary detention, torture, and other rights violations of sexual and gender minorities.
asserted
groups → deport → minorities
“Everything is difficult here because I have to hide who I am,” said Fuentes, a 32-year-old transgender woman living on a compound she rarely leaves, sharing a room with four Cuban men also deported from the U.S.
asserted
she → have → U.S.
“I don’t know this place, the people or the language, and I have no idea what will happen to me.”
asserted
what → know → me
The Central African Republic — one of the world’s poorest countries, a place with a history of conflict that the U.S. State Department advises American travelers to avoid — is one of at least 12 African nations that signed agreements to accept “third-country” deportations, a policy the U.S. Supreme Court last month allowed to continue, at least temporarily.
asserted
Court → advise → policy
In the Central African Republic — where transgender people have little to no legal protections and are marginalized in much of society — Fuentes dons her wig only in the privacy of her bathroom.
asserted
Fuentes → have → bathroom
She described disguising herself as protection, first in U.S. detention and now in a country she first heard of when she was already headed there on a deportation flight.
asserted
she → describe → flight
“My whole life, my whole identity, was taken away from me,” Fuentes said.
asserted
Fuentes → take → me
Public records say a judge ordered Fuentes to leave the U.S. but offer no other information.
asserted
judge → say → information
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials did not reply to emailed questions.
asserted
officials → reply → questions
Tens of thousands of people have been deported to “third countries”
Fuentes’ compound in the capital, Bangui, is an apartment complex where the government houses male deportees.
asserted
government → deport → deportees
Fuentes said she can leave but that officials have advised her and others to avoid it — they have no identification, which could lead to issues with the police.
uncertain
which → say → police
It also means they can’t work, she said, and she’s waiting on travel documents that would allow her to leave the country.
asserted
her → mean → country
The International Organization for Migration, an agency associated with the United Nations, has provided food, and the migrants say they’ve crowdsourced for donations to buy groceries.
asserted
they → associate → groceries
The U.S. — via agreements often not made public — has deported about 25,000 people to more than two dozen countries that aren’t their own, the vast majority to Mexico, according to a tally by Third Country Deportation Watch, a partnership of Refugees International and Human Rights First.
uncertain
that → make → International
The U.S. has not released numbers or details.
asserted
U.S. → release → numbers
From January 2025 to August 2026, more than 500 were sent to countries in Africa, according to a Human Rights Watch report published Thursday — including at least 12 people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender and were deported to places that criminalize same-sex relations or public same-sex romantic conduct.
uncertain
that → send → relations
Some advocates say the number is likely higher.
asserted
number → say → ?
“These are not bureaucratic errors or isolated incidents,” said Bridget Crawford, of the group Immigration Equality.
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Crawford → isolate → group
“They are the predictable result of policies that purposefully abandon our legal and moral obligation to protect LGBTQ+ immigrants fleeing persecution.”
asserted
that → abandon → persecution
The U.S. government says the policy is lawful and that receiving governments provide assurances deportees won’t be persecuted or tortured.
asserted
deportees → say → assurances
Daniela Fuentes says ICE detained her with men before deportation
Fuentes grew up in La Lisa, on Havana’s outskirts, and said she understood from childhood that she was different.
asserted
she → say → childhood
She began living as a woman in adolescence and started taking hormones at 18.
asserted
She → begin → 18
She ran a salon from her home, coloring and cutting hair.
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She → run → hair
She said she was harassed because of her gender identity and attacked at least twice, leaving scars on her arm and head.
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she → say → arm
Police also questioned her about operating a private business, she said — though housefront businesses are common in the area.
asserted
businesses → question → area
In 2023, Fuentes sold her home and left amid a deepening economic crisis and a crackdown on dissent — even as Cuba, one of Latin America’s most progressive countries for LGBTQ+ rights, adopted new inclusion laws.
asserted
Cuba → sell → laws
Making her way to the U.S., she said, she presented as a man traveling through Central America; she believed it was safer.
asserted
it → make → America
After seven months in Mexico, she said, she entered the U.S. through Texas via CBP One, a President Joe Biden-era online appointment system that allowed migrants to live in the country for two years on humanitarian grounds.
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migrants → say → grounds
Then she went to Miami.
asserted
she → go → Miami
There, she began living openly as a woman again.
asserted
she → begin → woman
She found work styling hair and performed at Azúcar.
asserted
She → find → Azúcar
Though she lacked permanent legal status, Fuentes said Miami offered something she’d rarely experienced: the freedom to move through daily life as herself.
asserted
she → lack → herself
That ended when officers encountered her outside a motel.
asserted
officers → end → motel
Fuentes said they learned she had missed an immigration court hearing in Texas.
asserted
she → say → Texas
She said she asked that the case be moved to Florida but received no response.
asserted
case → say → response
Fuentes said she was taken into custody and later placed in immigration detention with men.
asserted
she → say → men
Officials confiscated her wig and gave her a male detainee’s uniform, she said.
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she → confiscate → uniform
…and 36 more, not listed.
The Aporia
