“We Ate and Peed Handcuffed”: Nigerian Man Documents US Deportation After 10 Months in ICE Detention

• A Nigerian man who spent 10 months in ICE detention shared details on his deportation back home to Nigeria
• The deportation flight lasted 36 hours, during which he and other detainees were treated harshly
• People from across the world filled his comment section with support, with many saying his best days were still ahead of him

A Nigerian man known on social media as @ayomifull_ shared a series of videos showing his US deportation after spending 10 months in ICE detention. On 23 February 2026, he shared his journey home to Nigeria, showing his last moments in America with his wife before the long trip back.

He also showed himself back on familiar ground, playing basketball on the same court where he had trained before leaving for the US in 2015. He had gone to America with hopes of making it to the NBA. He wrote that even though deportation seemed like a setback, he believed things would still work out for the best.

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However, another side to what he experienced stopped people in their tracks. He described in detail what the deportation flight was actually like: 36 hours, chained at the wrists and ankles with a chain around his waist and unable to stand or stretch for the entire journey. He explained that he and the other deportees ate and used the bathroom while still cuffed.

The plane made five stops, with Nigeria as the last, and he said they flew over Nigeria at least six times before landing. He also described a fellow deportee being placed in a straitjacket, with the restraints so tight they cut into the skin.

He also shared how the air marshals and security contractors told detainees the cuffs could not be removed because they were still considered to be on US soil while on the plane, even after leaving US airspace. Elderly men and women had the same treatment. He was clear that he did not see his deportation itself as the negative part; it was the treatment he and others received during the process that he described as inhumane.

Despite everything that changed after Trump's recent tightening of the US immigration system, he posted that he left America "blessed, free and alive". More so, his wife and family were already less stressed than they had been during his time in detention.

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Watch the Instagram video below:

Netizens pity the Nigerian man's deportation story

Many shared their feelings about the harsh treatment and horrible experience Instagram user @ayomifull_ went through:

@sade___2.0 wrote:

"Nigerians, can we please be guided. This guy just revealed that he was in ICE detention for 10 whole months!!!"

@ahealthymixture said:

"So glad you are back home ❤️❤️ your best is yet to come 🙏 You got this."

@chef2thestars added:

"As a Black American, I am sending my love to you and your beautiful family..."

@lupusdiaries added:

"I'm glad you got out of this alive. Praying for life to get better and blessed."

@blessing.adesiyan cheered:

"The best chapter is unfolding!!!"

@_iyanuajayi said:

"Your wife is a real one. Glad you are safe, bro. Nigeria will favour you, IJN."

More on deportation and illegal immigrants

• Briefly News recently reported on a South African Afrikaner who ended up behind bars in the US after applying for asylum on a tourist visa.
• ICE arrested an Afrikaner living illegally in the United States, and the way South Africans responded to the news had social media in stitches.
• Radio personality Sol Phenduka weighed in on reports that Bellarmine Mugabe was in South Africa illegally, leaving many thinking long after they scrolled past.

Source: Briefly News