Ismail fled Cameroon after years of persecution. When he was 12 years old, his father — a founder of a nonviolent opposition movement — died after a severe beating in government custody. Ismail and his brother Michael were both tortured for their involvement in the same movement. They came to the United States seeking safety.

Michael was granted asylum in 2018. His case was heard, his evidence was weighed, and the U.S. government recognized that he faced real danger if sent home.

Ismail's case is nearly identical. But under rules adopted during President Trump's second term, an immigration judge refused to hear the merits of Ismail's asylum claim at all. Instead, he was ordered deported to Uganda — a country where he has no family, no community, and no ties of any kind.

This is not a close call. It is a due process failure.

Sending Ismail to Uganda also means sending him into danger. Uganda is experiencing a severe humanitarian crisis and is now facing an Ebola outbreak that has spilled over from the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. The United States recently barred entry to noncitizens who have visited Ebola-affected regions — yet it has not stopped deportations to those same regions. Ismail's family also fears he faces persecution in Uganda because of his sexual orientation: Uganda has criminalized homosexuality.

Ismail was not hiding. He had a work permit and was employed as a caretaker at an assisted living facility in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. He was detained during a routine immigration check-in. His brother Michael put it plainly: "He had an asylum case pending. He wasn't in hiding. He was doing everything the right way."

U.S. asylum law was built on international agreements signed after World War II precisely to protect people in Ismail's situation — people facing torture and persecution who have nowhere safe to go. Since last fall, the Trump administration has ordered 43,000 asylum seekers deported to countries where they have little to no ties. Critics, including immigration attorneys and legal scholars, argue that these "third-country removals" violate federal law and are being used to pressure asylum seekers into abandoning valid claims.

Ismail's claim was never heard. He deserves the same protection his brother received. We are calling on the Board of Immigration Appeals and the Department of Homeland Security to halt Ismail's deportation, allow his asylum case to be considered on its merits, and end the use of third-country removal orders against people fleeing proven persecution.

No one should be deported to a country they've never lived in — especially when a nearly identical case has already been granted asylum by the United States government.

Sign this petition to demand that Ismail's case be heard.