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  "path": "/news/people/maryland-gay-gamer-cameroon",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-06T17:40:32.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.advocate.com",
  "tags": [
    "Asylum",
    "Camaroon",
    "Donald trump",
    "Gay",
    "Homosexual",
    "Immigration",
    "Iran",
    "Ludovic mbock",
    "Maryland",
    "Uganda",
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    "**Sign up for The Advocate's email newsletter.**",
    "according",
    "Washington, D.C.",
    "Louisiana",
    "Georgia",
    "Trump admin is trying to deport LGBTQ+ asylum-seekers to countries where they'd be killed, lawyers say",
    "Gay man says ICE is keeping his husband jailed even though they’ve agreed to leave the U.S.",
    "Recent reporting",
    "Trump administration is potentially sending two gay men to their death by preparing to deport them to Iran",
    "Cameroon president's daughter comes out, reveals relationship with Brazilian model",
    "told",
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  "textContent": "\n\n\n\nA Maryland man detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during what his family believed would be a routine compliance appointment now faces possible deportation to Cameroon, a country where same-sex relationships are criminalized, and LGBTQ+ people face widespread persecution.\n\n**Keep up with the latest inLGBTQ+ news and politics. ****Sign up for The Advocate's email newsletter.**\n\nLudovic Mbock, 38, an out gay professional gamer who has lived in the United States since arriving as a teenager, was taken into custody during an ICE check-in in Baltimore roughly two weeks ago, according to Washington, D.C., news radio station WTOP.\n\nMbock’s attorney, Edward Neufville, told the station that his client has since been transferred through multiple detention facilities, including in Louisiana and Georgia.\n\n**Related** : Trump admin is trying to deport LGBTQ+ asylum-seekers to countries where they'd be killed, lawyers say\n\n\n**Related** : Gay man says ICE is keeping his husband jailed even though they’ve agreed to leave the U.S.\n\n“He’s an openly gay person,” Neufville told WTOP. “He won’t be able to survive in Cameroon.”\n\nMbock’s family now fears immigration authorities could deport him to the Central African country, where LGBTQ+ people have been subjected to arrests, violence, and harassment.\n\nThe case arrives amid growing scrutiny of Trump administration immigration enforcement policies that advocates say place LGBTQ+ migrants at particular risk when deportation could send them to countries hostile to their identities.\n\nRecent reporting by _The Advocate_ and the Associated Press has documented how migrants, including LGBTQ+ asylum seekers, have been deported not only to their home countries but also to third countries, a controversial practice that can place them in unfamiliar and dangerous environments. In one case reported by the AP, a lesbian asylum seeker from Morocco who fled family violence was deported to Cameroon despite a court order barring her return to Morocco because of the danger she faced there.\n\n**Related** : Trump administration is potentially sending two gay men to their death by preparing to deport them to Iran\n\n**Related** : Cameroon president's daughter comes out, reveals relationship with Brazilian model\n\nAttorneys say that new legal tactics and transfer agreements could allow the government to sidestep asylum rulings by proposing deportations to countries such as Uganda, where LGBTQ+ people face severe criminal penalties. Those cases, advocates say, highlight how immigration enforcement policies can collide with the core principle of asylum law: protecting people fleeing persecution based on characteristics such as sexual orientation or gender identity. Attorneys told the AP that such third-country deportations have been enabled by agreements allowing migrants to be transferred to nations with which they have no meaningful ties.\n\nAdvocates say the policies can create life-or-death consequences for LGBTQ+ migrants.\n\nEarlier this year, _The Advocate_ reported on two gay Iranian men who fled their country after being arrested by morality police for alleged “homosexual conduct,” charges that can carry punishments ranging from flogging to death. Their attorney warned that deporting them back to Iran could amount to sending them to their deaths.\n\n“They are textbook asylum cases,” attorney Rebekah Wolf told _The Advocate_ , describing people fleeing countries where sexual orientation is criminalized and punishable by torture or execution. In Iran, homosexuality can carry some of the harshest penalties in the world, including imprisonment, torture, and death, according to human rights groups.",
  "title": "Gay professional gamer detained by ICE fears deportation to Cameroon, where homosexuality is illegal"
}