By GERALD IMRAY and NALOVA AKUA

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) — A new group of third-country nationals was deported by the United States to Cameroon on Monday, lawyers told The Associated Press, days after it came to light that the Trump administration sent nine people to the Central African nation last month as part of its secretive program to remove immigrants to countries they have no ties with.

Lawyer Alma David of the U.S.-based Novo Legal Group said that a group of migrants who were not Cameroonian citizens arrived on a deportation flight that landed in the capital, Yaounde, on Monday.

David and Cameroon-based lawyer Joseph Awah Fru said they believed there were eight third-country nationals on the plane but had not spoken to them yet. The two lawyers said they are giving legal advice to some of the nine migrants — five women and four men — from other African countries who were deported from the U.S. to Cameroon last month.

The lawyers also expected to offer counsel to the new group of deportees, they said.

“For now, my focus is handling their shock,” Fru said.

A White House official, who was not authorized to comment publicly about the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity, acknowledged the second deportation flight to Cameroon but gave no details.

The New York Times first reported Saturday on the group of nine sent secretly to Cameroon last month. Two of them have since been repatriated to their home countries, David said.

Most of the deportees had protection orders

Eight of those nine previously deported migrants had protection orders granted by a U.S. immigration judge that prevented them from being deported to their home countries for fear of persecution or torture, David said, some of them because of their sexual orientation and others because of political activity.

Deporting them to a third country like Cameroon, from where they could ultimately be sent home, was effectively a legal “loophole,” David said.

“That is why the United States did not send them directly to their countries,” Fru said. “Because there is cause for concern that they might be harmed, that their lives are threatened.”

David said none of the nine sent to Cameroon last month, which included migrants from Zimbabwe, Morocco and Ghana, had criminal records apart from driving-related offenses. She had no details yet on the eight who arrived on Monday.

African nations are being paid millions

Cameroon, where 93-year-old President Paul Biya has ruled since 1982, is the latest of at least seven African nations to receive deported third-country nationals in a deal with the U.S. Others that have struck deals with the Trump administration include South Sudan, Rwanda, Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana and Equatorial Guinea.

Some of them have received millions of dollars in payments to take deported migrants, according to documents released by the U.S. State Department. Details of some of the other agreements, including the one with Cameroon, have not been released by the Trump administration.

The Trump administration has spent at least $40 million to deport roughly 300 migrants to countries other than their own in Africa, Central America and elsewhere, according to a report compiled by the Democratic staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and released last week.

According to internal administration documents reviewed by the AP, there are 47 third-country agreements at various stages of negotiation. Of those, 15 have been concluded and 10 are at or near conclusion.

Immigration policies are a ‘top priority’

The U.S. State Department said Monday in a statement to the AP on the Cameroon deportations that it had “no comment on the details of our diplomatic communications with other governments.”

“Implementing the Trump Administration’s immigration policies is a top priority for the Department of State,” it said, adding “we remain unwavering in our commitment to end illegal and mass immigration and bolster America’s border security.”

Cameroon’s Foreign Ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed there had been deportations to Cameroon in January but didn’t give specific information on third-country migrants. It did not comment on the second plane.

“We are applying the law as written. If a judge finds an illegal alien has no right to be in this country, we are going to remove them. Period,” the department said. “These third-country agreements, which ensure due process under the U.S. Constitution, are essential to the safety of our homeland and the American people.”

Related Articles

Sick detainees describe poor care at facilities run by ICE contractor

The high-stakes fight over masked federal agents

More than ever, videos expose the truth. And cloud it, too.

Hmong grandmother detained in Texas for 2 weeks still doesn’t know why

Trump’s border czar says ‘small’ security force will remain in Minnesota after enforcement drawdown

The Trump administration has used third-country deportation deals as a deterrent to force migrants who are in the U.S. illegally to leave on their own, saying they could end up “in any number of third countries” if deported.

It has also defended the practice as part of a crackdown to remove what it refers to as dangerous criminals and gang members.

Activists and lawyers say the U.S. should know that sending migrants to third countries with poor human rights records risks them being denied due process and exposed to abuse.

Last year, the U.S. deported five nationals from Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, Yemen and Laos to the southern African nation of Eswatini. The deportees had all been convicted of serious criminal offenses, including murder, attempted murder and rape. They had all served their criminal sentences in the U.S.

Four of them have been held at a maximum-security prison in Eswatini for more than six months without charges and have not been allowed to meet in person with a lawyer. Their detentions are the subject of two legal challenges in Eswatini.

Eswatini, which is ruled by a king as Africa’s last absolute monarchy, will be paid $5.1 million to take up to 160 third-country deportees, according to details of the deal released by the State Department. The Eswatini king, Mswati III, has long been accused of clamping down on pro-democracy protests in a country where political parties are banned while using public money to fund his lavish lifestyle.

Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa. Associated Press writers Chinedu Asadu in Abuja, Nigeria, and Aamer Madhani in West Palm Beach, Fla., contributed to this report.

FORT MYERS, Fla. — One of Tom Pohlad’s first declarations upon assuming the role of Twins executive chair from his younger brother, Joe, in mid-December was that he planned to be an active owner.

Tom Pohlad

Since taking over two months ago, Pohlad has flown to both coasts to meet with two of the team’s star players, parted ways with president of business and baseball operations Derek Falvey, phoned disgruntled former season-ticket holders and made a run at a top free agent starter, among other things.

Now, he’s settling in for an extended stay in Fort Myers, as he continues to familiarize himself with the ins and outs of the organization that he now leads.

“I told the players this, I told you guys (the media), I want to be active,” Pohlad said. “I told them that I wanted to get to know them, to build relationships and openly communicate. Just set a new culture for this organization going forward.”

Pohlad spoke to the group ahead of the team’s first full-squad workout on Monday, delivering a message that new Twins manager Derek Shelton said he believed “resonated with the players.” The goal of the speech, Pohlad said, was to set expectations and goals for the season and to help get players aligned with the direction of the team under new leadership.

The speech, veteran reliever Liam Hendriks said, was “impassioned.”

“That was cool to see, and there’s a lot of care behind it,” Hendriks said. “He’s understanding, ‘We haven’t been good.’ He acknowledged the weaknesses that we have, and you embrace them moving forward. I liked the accountability thing.”

Pohlad, who went to Georgia to meet with Byron Buxton and California to talk to Joe Ryan, has also recently been tapping into the knowledge of former players, including the rotating cast of television analysts.

Trevor Plouffe, for example, posted a video on social media about their conversation, saying the call was “a breath of fresh air,” and both Ryan and Buxton expressed their appreciation to Pohlad for visiting.

“I can’t outsource earning back the trust of our fans or of our employees or of the players,” Pohlad said. “I think that work’s got to be done by me. So that’s what I’m trying to do.”

Much of what he’s doing is trying to hear feedback from players and former players while also trying to express where he has seen missteps and identifying things that he can do differently.

Pohlad specifically mentioned the 2023 trade deadline — the Twins were in first place by a slim margin but essentially stood pat — and the 2023 offseason when ownership slashed payroll in response to the team’s swelling debt. That deeply-unpopular move came when the Twins were riding high after their first taste of playoff success in decades.

“I think it’s about when the time is right, being willing to invest and when there’s a window for us to be really competitive and compete in the playoffs, we’ve got to be willing to put our chips on the table so to speak and go all in,” he said.

Pohlad took over midway through the offseason for his younger brother, Joe, and what they’ve done since then — improved around the margins but not made a major splash — “is less a function of what we wanted to do, but more a function of what the reality of the market was at that point in time,” with many free agents off the board, he said.

The Twins were interested in starting pitcher Framber Valdez, and Pohlad said it would have been “fun to make a splash and show the organization and the fans that we’re committed.” But Valdez wound up signing with Detroit for a three-year deal worth $115 million.

Though payroll is expected to be significantly lower than last year’s and the years prior, Pohlad is bullish about this year’s Twins team. Told the betting line from BetMGM is just 73.5 wins, Pohlad brushed it off, suggesting the Twins would be better than that.

Minnesota Twins outfielder Byron Buxton signs autographs for fans during a spring training baseball workout in Fort Myers, Fla., Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

“We really like our team,” he said. “We think we’ve got a good mix of veterans and really talented young people who want to make a statement. I think we’re going to exceed expectations.”

Still, there’s still a long way to go to win back fans, many of whom are upset with ownership and have tuned out in recent years. Last year, the Twins’ attendance was 1,768,728, the lowest since Target Field opened with the exception of the two COVID-19-impacted seasons. Their average attendance per game was 24th of 30 teams.

In an attempt to get fans back to the ballpark, the Twins have introduced pregame $2 beer specials at Target Field. But Pohlad knows only one thing will rejuvenate the fanbase.

“I’m under no illusion that the things we are trying to do are secondary to what is most important, which is winning baseball games. I’m under no illusion,” Pohlad said. “But we have to do some of those things to get people re-engaged, and then hopefully the product on the field delivers, and we build momentum that way.”

Related Articles

Pablo López experiences elbow soreness as Twins kick off full-team workouts

After “different” offseason, Buxton preps for WBC, season

Twins continue to add veterans to bullpen

Twins’ Royce Lewis adapts offseason program: ‘This kid wants to be a star’

All-star reliever Liam Hendriks looks to revive career with Twins

By JACOB ZIMBA and GERALD IMRAY

LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) — She says she was let down at every step. By a partner who abandoned her when she was pregnant. By a health service that denied her a legal abortion. And by a justice system that sent her to a maximum-security prison for illegally terminating her pregnancy on her own.

Violet Zulu, a house cleaner in Zambia earning $40 a month, was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2024 after representing herself in court with little understanding of the consequences of her actions. She didn’t see her two children or other family members for nearly two years.

After word of her case reached international rights groups that helped her file an appeal, Zulu was freed last month. Activists say she represents many women in Africa who take desperate decisions when facing barriers to legal abortion services.

Her story has drawn little sympathy in her southern African nation, where parts of society view abortion harshly. Her own mother said she agreed with her daughter’s prison sentence, but said it should have been shorter.

Zulu spoke with The Associated Press as she pieces her life together again at the age of 26.

Violet Zulu, who was sent to a maximum-security prison after she was denied a legal abortion and ended her pregnancy on her own, poses for a photograph in Lusaka, Zambia, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Kille)

Turned away from care

She said she first attempted to access legal abortion services at a public clinic, which should have given her advice or services but turned her away. She then tried a private pharmacy, which requested 800 Zambian kwacha ($43) for abortion drugs, a month’s salary for her.

She was already struggling to feed her two young sons, and she sometimes had to beg food from relatives.

She said her decision to drink an herbal concoction she prepared herself, one known for terminating pregnancies, was taken out of despair. She couldn’t bear for her boys to have even less food if she had another child.

“I never wanted to abort my pregnancy, but it is the circumstances at home that forced me to do it,” Zulu said in the interview at the two-room rented home with no running water that she shares with her children and parents.

“I was scared (when I took the concoction), but I didn’t really care what would happen to me,” she added.

In her court testimony, she explained what happened next: She delivered the fetus in a toilet, placed it in a sack and dropped it in a nearby stream. She said she confided in a friend, but word got out and neighbors reported her to police.

Zulu, who left school in the eighth grade, was never offered free legal counsel despite the right to request it. She represented herself in court and pleaded guilty to the offense of procuring her own abortion. She said she didn’t understand the legality of abortion and thought she would receive a warning.

A system that failed

“This is a system that failed Violet,” said Rosemary Kirui, a legal adviser for Africa for the abortion rights group Center for Reproductive Rights, which campaigned for Zulu’s release and helped with her appeal. “It is not that she did not try. It is that she could not afford the services, yet she should be able to access them as a citizen of Zambia.”

Zulu should have been eligible for a free abortion under a provision that allows doctors in Zambia to consider risks to the well-being of her existing children, said Sharon Williams, country director for the Women and Law in Southern Africa advocacy group.

Related Articles

Puerto Rico governor signs law to recognize fetus as human being as critics warn of consequences

Judge strikes down old Arizona abortion restrictions that clash with voter-backed guarantees

Planned Parenthood drops lawsuit against Trump administration’s Medicaid cuts

Vance touts the Trump administration’s record against abortion at a Washington rally

Trump administration halts use of human fetal tissue in NIH-funded research

But Zulu was not aware of that, largely because of the secrecy, stigma and shame around abortion, which is not advertised by Zambia’s public health system.

Zambia’s Health Ministry did not respond to questions about her case.

Part of the problem, Williams said, is that Zambia has legalized abortion while also defining itself in its constitution as a strongly Christian country.

Abortions are still largely restricted in Africa, with few countries allowing them for reasons other than threats to the health of the mother or the fetus. Even in countries where abortion is legal in some circumstances like Zambia, religious beliefs, conservative values rooted in local cultures or a lack of information make access to legal procedures difficult, according to health and rights groups.

Williams said Zulu’s case ought to lead to a national conversation over whether Zambian authorities should better educate communities over the legal right to abortion.

“I think now that we have this judgment, we’re ready for the conversation,” she said.

Desperate women, unsafe abortions

Activists say desperate women turn to unsafe abortions. Africa and Latin America have the highest proportions of them, with approximately 75% of all abortions in Africa deemed unsafe, according to the World Health Organization.

The Guttmacher Institute health rights organization estimated in a 2019 report that over 6 million unsafe abortions a year occurred in sub-Saharan Africa. It noted that Zambia’s abortion law “tended to be a ‘paper law’ rather than one that ensures widespread access.”

In South Africa, which claims to have the most progressive laws on the continent, abortion has been legal for nearly 30 years. It is allowed on request before 13 weeks of pregnancy and for several reasons before 21 weeks.

But studies estimate only 7% of public health facilities there offer abortion services.

In 2023, the case of a 14-year-old who was denied an abortion by South African health workers three times for reasons that were not valid prompted a national reality check. After an urgent court case, a judge ordered that the girl be allowed to have an abortion, which was performed on the last day eligible by law.

At the time, a representative of the social justice group that represented the girl said South Africa’s abortion laws were being undermined by “the abuse of medical knowledge by health care professionals” in trying to prevent abortions.

In Zambia, Zulu said she still felt bad about what she did but must now provide for her sons. She was looking for work again, she said.

Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa.

For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Minnesota’s women’s basketball team entered the Top 25 for the first time this season on Monday on the heels of an eight-game winning streak, ranked No. 23 in this week’s Associated Press poll.

With a 83-60 victory at Wisconsin on Sunday, the Gophers improved to 20-6 overall, 11-4 in the Big Ten Conference.

Minnesota received 104 votes in the poll. The Gophers are host to No. 10 Ohio State at Williams Arena on Wednesday night, and to No. 18 Michigan State on Sunday afternoon.

The Gophers were ranked for two weeks last season but went 3-9 down the stretch and were left out of the NCAA tournament. Minnesota then won the Women’s Basketball Invitation tournament and finished with a program-best 25 wins in coach Dawn Plitzuweit’s second season.

Four other Big Ten teams appeared in the poll: No. 2 UCLA, No. 6 Michigan, No. 13 Iowa and No. 14 Maryland.

Related Articles

Women’s basketball: Gophers win big at Wisconsin

Women’s basketball: Gophers win seventh straight game

Women’s basketball: Gophers run win streak to six games

Women’s basketball: Gophers stun No. 10 Iowa

Women’s basketball: Gophers’ defense dominates Purdue