ICE deported the refugee to Africa, where the abuser who bought her as a ‘wife’ is waiting to kill her, lawyers claim.

The life of a Congolese refugee allowed to stay in the United States is in “serious danger” after ICE secretly flew her to an undisclosed African nation, while the woman’s husband — a widely feared local politician who allegedly shot her father on sight — continues to search for her across continents, according to a review of federal court documents. independent.

In addition to fearing for her safety, “Jane Doe,” as she is referred to in the legal filings, “hopes for the safety of her children, whose whereabouts she does not know because their father, her husband, is trying to kill them and so they are hiding, including them,” Doe’s attorneys said in an emergency motion filed Monday in Louisiana. “She hopes for the safety of her brother, who was kidnapped in Mexico by a cartel and she hasn’t seen him.”

At age 14, “Jane Doe” — a devout Christian and former hairdresser in the Democratic Republic of Congo — was forced to become the sixth wife of an African politician to pay off the family’s debt, according to the motion. For the next decade, Doe was physically and sexually abused by her husband and her two sons, “held hostage” while the four children were born, the motion says, which calls for Doe’s immediate return to the United States.

At the end of 2024, Doe managed to escape to his parents’ house, the momentum continues. But Doe’s politician husband soon found her, brutalized her and her brother, ordered his bodyguards to execute her father in front of her and burned down the family home, the motion said. When Doe went to the police, they said her only option was to leave the country because “her abuser was too powerful and … they couldn’t protect her,” according to the motion.

“Ms. Doe hid and ran away [Democratic Republic of Congo] With the help of her brother and his employer, who secretly obtained travel documents and plane tickets to Brazil,” it says. Doe’s abuser continued to track her abroad. Within an hour of arriving in Brazil, Ms. Doe received a WhatsApp message from her abuser, telling her she was in Brazil and that ‘eyes are everywhere’. Threatening to kill her.”

Terrified, Doe crossed 12 different countries—walking the infamous Darien Gap—to reach the United States, where, the proposal states, “she believed in respecting human rights.” It is said that Doe arrived at the US-Mexico border on January 2, 2025 and immediately requested asylum. He was sent to the Richwood Correctional Center in Monroe, Louisiana, his case was processed, and last June he was granted permission to remain in the US under a “stay of removal” decision barring his deportation to the DR Congo.

However, that all changed on February 15, 2026, when ICE decided to relocate him.

Doe’s lawyers say they were never contacted by authorities about their client’s sudden removal and “don’t know where. [ICE] disappeared [her] In the dead of night until yesterday.” Dow was loaded onto a deportation flight to Senegal, Cameroon, Chad, Ghana and Nigeria, without providing further details, the affidavit added, “Ms. Kay has no contacts, resources, money or means of contact with anyone in the world.

The motion argues that Doe’s “unlawful removal means his life is in grave danger.”

Doe, according to a supporting affidavit filed by one of her lawyers, is “an extraordinary woman.”

“She’s survived extensive trauma, and despite that, she smiles during video calls with me and tells me she’s learning how to make bracelets while in ICE custody,” it says. “She reads her Bible and leads Bible studies among other women in her custody. She finds a way to keep hope alive… She hopes to pursue her future education studying medicine, working as a nurse and one day running an orphanage. She hopes to see outside of the detention facility where she has lived since January 120, 520 in the United States.”

The affidavit praises Doe for fighting to block the June 2025 removal order, which the proposal describes as “equality of asylum” after she proved she was more likely to be persecuted on protected grounds if she was removed to the Democratic Republic of Congo and the government there was unable or unwilling to protect her.

Last summer, ICE directed officials to deport immigrants from the United States to countries other than their own with six hours’ notice — or no notice at all.

That memo from ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons followed a Supreme Court ruling that opened the door for ICE to send deportees to countries where they have no citizenship, family or other connections.

ICE has since spent more than $40 million and fought several legal battles over the removal of deportees to distant countries with no ties to several countries in Africa: Eswatini, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda and South Sudan, among others.

In a June 2025 letter to authorities filed as a court exhibit, another lawyer representing Doe wrote that she was told ICE was considering Canada and Spain as possible third countries to which they could deport him. However, her husband has family in both places, and she can easily be found there, the letter said. Guatemala, a third possibility floated by ICE, would be equally dangerous for Doe, who doesn’t even speak Spanish, according to a follow-up letter.

Still, immigration officials denied Doe the right to a reasonable apprehension interview about any potential third country, which Monday’s motion called an “extraordinary and illegal measure.”

“Under our Constitution, this cannot stand,” the motion argues.

According to the motion, ICE has denied any communication with Doe’s attorneys for nearly nine months.

“Defendants communicate—if at all—completely [Doe]: a high school graduate with no legal training who is a native French speaker and knows only limited English,” it maintains. By excluding counsel from the equation and refusing to engage with her attorneys, Defendants have abhorrently violated Ms. Doe’s rights. “

At 11 p.m. on Valentine’s Day, Doe’s legal team was notified by a family member that Doe “had been told she had been ‘moved,'” the motion said. “He allegedly has no information or knowledge that the ‘move’ is a transfer to a different facility or removal to a third country.

As of 10 a.m. Sunday, Doe had disappeared from ICE’s online detainer locator, according to Speed. It says Doe’s lawyers made at least 20 phone calls to eight different ICE officials, field offices, and detention facilities, but no one answered.

Finally, at 1 p.m., an ICE official picked up the phone and said Doe was on a 4 a.m. flight from the U.S. leaving for deportees in five African countries, but “could not identify his destination,” according to the motion. The officer referred the attorneys to a pair of higher-ups, who also did not answer their questions, according to the motion.

Doe’s lawyers argue that the US government violated his Fifth Amendment right to due process as well as a section of federal law that prohibits government agencies from “arbitrary or capricious” conduct.

They are demanding that U.S. authorities facilitate Doe’s return to the U.S., “without incident,” release him upon entry and reimburse him for any costs incurred.

Doe’s attorneys declined to comment on the record. An ICE spokeswoman did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment.

With reporting by Alex Woodward