Nearly a decade ago, he led an attempted coup d’etat in the West African nation of Burkina Faso.
Zakaria Songotoua, 40, fled his country and eventually ended up in New York, and has since become a target of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation effort, The Daily Wire has learned. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers sent him back to Burkina Faso on April 22.
The one-way flight came after Songotoua was ordered deported by an immigration judge after he was found “ineligible” for immigration status.
Songotoua participated in the coup attempt which began on September 16, 2015, while he was a member of the Presidential Security Regiment (RSP). At the time, a rogue group of his force stormed the presidential palace and took the interim president, Michel Kafando, along with the country’s prime minister, Lt. Col. Isaac Zida, and several cabinet members hostage, The New York Times reported.
They also fired upon protesters, resulting in an estimated 11 fatalities, while more than 100 people were injured. The overthrow attempt ultimately failed after 13 days of violence and chaos, according to The New York Times.
Songotoua fled his home country before his trial, where he was convicted in absentia of murder, assault and battery, and an attack on state security. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations New York City Field Office Director Kenneth Genalo said that “individuals” like Songotoua “who engage in such bloodshed anywhere in the world have no place in the United States.”
ICE did not disclose when or where he entered the United States.
“Songotoua’s role in the violent 2015 effort to overthrow Burkina Faso’s government, which included holding a national leader hostage and killing and injuring protesters, reflects a grave disregard for human life and the rule of law,” Genalo said in a statement shared with The Daily Wire.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents investigated the case as part of the Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force, which focuses on targeting individuals who have participated in persecution, war crimes, genocide, torture, extrajudicial killings, female genital mutilation, and the use or recruitment of child soldiers, ICE said.
HSI has more than 190 active investigations into suspected human rights violators. The agency has also received more than 1,985 leads and removal cases involving alleged human rights violators who hail from 95 countries.
“ERO [Enforcement and Removal Operations] New York, with essential support from Homeland Security Investigations New York and the Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center, will continue to identify and remove human rights violators who attempt to seek refuge in our communities,” Genalo said.