New York Times Unmasks ‘Hell’ of Algeria’s Mass Deportation Campaign

Doha – A recent New York Times investigation has revealed the unprecedented scale of Algeria’s deportation campaign against sub-Saharan African migrants, showing a pattern of harsh treatment and dangerous desert abandonment that reached record levels in 2024.

According to the Times’ reporting, Algeria has intensified its deportation operations, with “The Algerian authorities drop[ing] migrants at the border with Niger, forcing them to walk for hours in the desert before reaching the closest town.”

The migrants also face severe treatment in Algerian detention facilities, including physical violence and beatings.

The investigation comes as NGO Alarme Phone Sahara (APS) reported that Algeria deported at least 31,404 people to the Niger border during 2024 alone, marking the highest number of deportations documented in recent years.

This figure significantly surpassed the 26,031 deportations recorded in 2023.

The Times investigation exposes how some North African countries, while receiving European Union funding to tackle migration, employ brutal tactics to block sub-Saharan African migrants.

Algeria, notably operating without an EU migration agreement, stands out for its particularly harsh methods.

The Times detailed how these mass deportations occur following systematic raids, with Algerian security forces regularly conducting mass arrests in locations where migrants live and work.

Many of those detained endure harsh conditions before being transported to the desert borderlands.

These operations have intensified to such a degree that they “exceeded all documented figures from previous years,” according to Alarme Phone Sahara (APS).

In April 2024, Niger summoned the Algerian ambassador to protest against what it termed the “violent nature” of these deportation operations, leading to a diplomatic exchange where Algeria rejected these allegations as “baseless.”

According to the APS, one particularly troubling aspect is the pattern of “chain deportations.” This is when individuals first expelled from Tunisia, often after failed sea crossings, are pushed into Algeria, only to then be deported by Algerian authorities to Niger.

The human cost of these policies is illustrated through numerous testimonies. A 22-year-old Senegalese national named Mamadou told InfoMigrants about his traumatic experience.

“After five or six hours […], we were dropped off in the desert, there was nothing around. The Algerian police shouted at us: ‘Here is Assamaka!’ while pointing to the horizon,” he said.

A September 2024 Le Monde investigation reveals the precarious existence of migrants still in Algeria. In Staoueli, west of Algiers, they live under bridges, constantly tracking the timing of deportation sweeps that occur “every seven to eight months.”

While the International Organization for Migration (IOM) supervised the voluntary return of 5,000 migrants in 2023, these numbers are dwarfed by forced deportations.

The severe crisis continues despite creating diplomatic tensions between Algeria and its southern neighbors, particularly Niger.

The situation is exacerbated by Algeria’s lack of clear migration policies, creating what Le Monde describes as “permanent uncertainty for migrants who live between the fear of being sent back and the hope of carving out a life for themselves,” in a country where many seek economic opportunities despite the constant threat of deportation.

This intensifying crisis at Europe’s doorstep paints the picture of the exorbitant human cost of migration control policies, with Algeria’s desert deportations standing as a stark example of the increasingly harsh measures being employed to deter migration flows northward.