Washington– the Trump administration It paid $7.5 million to the government of Equatorial Guinea as it seeks to deport people to the West African country. It is close to its leaders, who are subject to severe prosecutionAccording to what the top Democratic senator on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said.
“This highly unusual payment — to one of the most corrupt governments in the world — raises serious concerns about the responsible and transparent use of American taxpayer money,” Senator Jeanne Shaheen said in a letter sent Monday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and obtained by The Associated Press.
In her letter, Shaheen said the $7.5 million was notable because it would “far exceed the amount of U.S. foreign assistance provided over the past eight years combined” to the country.
The payment, made from an Immigration and Refugee Assistance Fund, will be the first government-to-government transfer from this account, which Congress established to respond to humanitarian crises. She wondered whether payment was a permissible use of money.
The State Department declined to comment on the details of the diplomatic communications, but said: “Implementing the Trump Administration’s immigration policies is a top priority for the State Department. As Secretary Rubio said, we remain steadfast in our commitment to ending illegal and mass immigration and strengthening America’s border security.”
As the Trump administration looks to Africa for more deportations, the whistleblower raised questions about how it connects its deportation agenda to other foreign policy goals, as well as which international leaders it is willing to trust.
The Trump administration, with the aim of ramping up deportations, has sought to do this Concluding agreements with countries To receive immigrants who are not its citizens. Immigration advocacy groups have criticized the “third country” policy as a reckless tactic that violates due process rights and could strand deportees in countries with long histories of human rights abuses and corruption.
At the same time, the Trump administration has developed its relations with the Vice President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro “Teddy” Nguema Obiangfamous among world leaders accused of corruption because of his lavish lifestyle It attracted the attention of prosecutors in several countries.
The Associated Press reported that the State Department granted this Waiver of penalties To allow him to travel to a high-level UN meeting in New York in September and to visit other US cities. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau also He met with Obiang.
In addition to the deportations, the United States is trying to counter Chinese influence in Equatorial Guinea and advance American commercial interests in oil and gas there.
Obiang is the son and presumptive successor of Equatorial Guinea’s longtime ruler. He is accused of decades of corruption and abuse of power. The vice president, who oversees defense and national security, has been subject to international sanctions for years and faces accusations of stealing the state’s wealth while most people live in poverty.
Despite Equatorial Guinea’s oil and gas wealth, at least 70% of its two million people live in poverty. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Obiang’s father Longest serving African presidentHe has been in power since 1979.
In 2017, a French court convicted the younger Obiang of laundering and embezzling millions of euros, sentencing him to a three-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of 30 million euros, as well as confiscating his luxury properties in Paris and a car collection worth tens of millions. Equatorial Guinea has challenged the confiscation of assets before the International Court of Justice.
US prosecutors also reached a $30 million settlement with Obiang in 2014. He had to hand over his assets, including his Malibu mansion and Ferrari and Michael Jackson memorabilia.
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Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.