Senate Democrat questions Trump administration's $7.5M payment to Equatorial Guinea

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration made a $7.5 million payment to the government of Equatorial Guinea as it seeks to deport people to the West African country and draws closer to its heavily prosecuted leaders, according to the top Democratic senator on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said in a letter sent Monday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and obtained by The Associated Press that “this highly unusual payment — to one of the most corrupt governments in the world — raises serious concerns over the responsible, transparent use of American taxpayer dollars."

Shaheen said in her letter that the $7.5 million payment stood out because it would would “far exceed the amount of U.S. foreign assistance provided over the last 8 years combined” to the country.

The payment, made from a fund for migration and refugee assistance, would be the first government-to-government transfer from that account, which was set up by Congress to respond to humanitarian crises. She questioned whether the payment was a permissible use of the money.

The State Department declined to comment on the details of diplomatic communications, but said, “Implementing the Trump Administration’s immigration policies is a top priority for the Department of State. As Secretary Rubio has said, we remain unwavering in our commitment to end illegal and mass immigration and bolster America’s border security.”

As the Trump administration looks to Africa for further deportations, the payment raised questions about how it is enmeshing its deportation agenda with other foreign policy goals, as well as the international leaders it is willing to trust.

The Trump administration, in aiming to ramp up deportations, has sought to forge agreements with countries to take in migrants who are not their citizens. Immigration advocacy groups have criticized the “third country” policy as a reckless tactic that violates due process rights and can strand deportees in countries with long histories of human rights violations and corruption.

At the same time, the Trump administration has developed ties with the vice president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro “Teddy” Nguema Obiang, who is notorious among world leaders accused of corruption for a lavish lifestyle that has attracted the attention of prosecutors in several countries.

The AP has reported that the State Department granted a sanctions waiver to allow him to travel to a high-level U.N. gathering in New York in September and visit other American cities. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau also met with Obiang.

Besides deportations, the U.S. is trying to counter Chinese influence in Equatorial Guinea and boost American oil and gas business interests there.

Obiang is the son and presumed successor of Equatorial Guinea’s longtime ruler. He's accused of decades of corruption and abuse of power. The vice president, who oversees national defense and security, has been under international sanctions for years and faces allegations of siphoning state wealth while most people live in poverty.

Despite Equatorial Guinea's oil and gas riches, at least 70% of its nearly 2 million people live in poverty. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Obiang's father, is Africa’s longest-serving president, holding power since 1979.

In 2017, a French court found the younger Obiang guilty of laundering and embezzling millions of euros, handing down a three-year suspended sentence and a 30 million euro fine as well as ordering the confiscation of his luxury Paris properties and car collection worth tens of millions. Equatorial Guinea has challenged those asset seizures at the International Court of Justice.

U.S. prosecutors also reached a $30 million settlement with Obiang in 2014. He had to surrender assets, including a Malibu mansion, a Ferrari and Michael Jackson memorabilia.

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Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.