Belarus authoritarian leader welcomes US evangelist Franklin Graham to hold massive gathering

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Belarus' authoritarian leader on Friday greeted U.S. Rev. Franklin Graham, who arrived in the tightly controlled country to hold the largest evangelical Christian gathering in its history.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko asked Graham to convey warm greetings to President Donald Trump and tell him that he has “reliable friends and supporters in Belarus.”

Since Trump returned to the White House, Lukashenko has released hundreds of political prisoners as part of U.S.-brokered deals that lifted some U.S. sanctions, part of the isolated leader's efforts to improve ties with the West.

“Without the U.S. president, it might have been more difficult for us to establish our relations,” Lukashenko told Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Graham was accompanied by Greta Van Susteren, the anchor for Newsmax TV who is married to Trump’s special envoy for Belarus, John Coale.

Lukashenko has ruled the nation of 9.5 million with an iron fist for more than three decades, and the country has been sanctioned repeatedly by Western countries — both for its crackdown on human rights and for allowing Moscow to use its territory in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Graham is set to hold the largest gathering of evangelicals ever in Belarus’ history, with thousands expected to attend what the organizers called the Festival of Hope at an indoor sports arena in Minsk, the capital.

Lukashenko’s rule was challenged after a 2020 presidential election, when hundreds of thousands took to the streets to protest a vote they viewed as rigged. In an ensuing crackdown, tens of thousands were detained, with many beaten by police. Prominent opposition figures fled the country or were imprisoned.

Five years after the mass demonstrations, Lukashenko won a seventh term last year in an election that the opposition called a farce.

As part of a deal in March that Washington helped broker, Lukashenko ordered the release of 250 political prisoners, while the U.S. agreed to lift sanctions from two Belarusian state banks and the country’s Finance Ministry, and to remove the top Belarusian potash producers from a sanctions list.

Another deal in April released prominent journalist Andrzej Poczobut in a swap with Poland that saw a total of 10 people freed.

However, Belarus still has 845 political prisoners, including 22 journalists, according to the Viasna human rights center.

Belarus opposition leader-in-exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya voiced hope that Graham's visit will help the release of all political prisoners. “We continue to push for a complete end to the harsh political repressions in Belarus,” Tsikhanouskaya told The Associated Press.

Belarusian authorities' permission for the massive gathering of evangelicals marks a shift, following years of crackdown on clergy — Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant — which saw dozens jailed, silenced or forced into exile for protesting the 2020 election. In the country of 9.5 million, about 80% are Orthodox Christians; nearly 14% are Catholics, residing mostly in western, northern and central parts of the country; and about 2% belong to Protestant churches.

A 2024 law required all religious organizations to reregister with authorities or face being outlawed if their loyalty to the state is in doubt.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has listed Belarus among countries with religious freedom violations, particularly noting its restrictive legislation.

Natallia Vasilevich, coordinator of the Christian Vision monitoring group, noted that even as Graham's visit to Belarus was a “mega-important event” for evangelicals in the country, they continue to face a repressive environment.

“Some believers view Graham’s visit as a miracle and a window of opportunity, while others see a risk that they will have to turn a blind eye to repression and take part in something that makes the regime looks nice,” Vasilevich said.

In this photo released by Belarusian presidential press service, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, right, and U.S. evangelist Franklin Graham shake hands during their meeting in Minsk, Belarus, Friday, May 15, 2026. (Belarusian Presidential Press Service via AP)

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, May 8, 2026. (Ramil Sitdikov/Pool Photo via AP)

Belarusian President Alexandr Lukashenko, right, speaks with his son Nikolai during the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Saturday, May 9, 2026, during celebrations of the 81st anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany during the World War II. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov, Pool)

In this photo released by Belarusian presidential press service, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, right, and U.S. evangelist Franklin Graham shake hands during their meeting in Minsk, Belarus, Friday, May 15, 2026. (Belarusian Presidential Press Service via AP)

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The Trump administration has deported 15 Latin Americans to the Democratic Republic of Congo, sending them to an unfamiliar country thousands of miles from home — many despite U.S. court orders protecting them from deportation to their homelands.

The Associated Press spoke by phone with a 29-year-old Colombian woman about her experience. She spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Here are takeaways from AP's story.

All the deportees had received legal orders from U.S. judges shielding them from removal to their home countries, according to U.S. attorney Alma David, one of their lawyers. The Colombian woman was granted protection under the U.N. Convention Against Torture in May 2025, after a federal judge ruled she could not safely be returned to Colombia, where she had faced threats from armed groups and abuse by a former partner in government.

She was nonetheless detained at a routine U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement check-in earlier this year and told a third country had been found for her. Less than three weeks later, she was on a plane — hands and feet restrained during a nearly 24-hour charter flight. She learned she was going to Congo the day before departure.

A recent U.S. court ruling found the government likely broke the law by deporting a fellow Colombian to Congo. What that means for the others remains unclear.

The Trump administration has struck deals with at least eight African countries to accept deportees who are not their own nationals — people whose home countries won’t take them back or who have court protections preventing their return. Legal experts say the arrangements function as an effective loophole in U.S. immigration law.

The terms of Congo’s deal are unclear. Unlike other participating countries, which have received millions of dollars, Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi has called it an “act of goodwill,” with no financial compensation. The deal comes as Washington has pressured neighboring Rwanda over its support for the M23 rebel group in eastern Congo — a dynamic analysts say may help explain Kinshasa’s cooperation.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to questions about the Colombian woman’s case but has asserted the agreements “ensure due process under the U.S. Constitution.” The Trump administration says they are needed to “remove criminal illegal aliens.”

The International Organization for Migration, a U.N.-affiliated body, plays a central role in managing the deportees’ lives in Kinshasa. They stay in bungalows at a hotel near the airport, with costs covered by Congo’s government, according to the IOM. The gates are locked and security does not let them leave alone, the Colombian woman said.

Deportees may go out roughly once a week, accompanied by IOM staff, with about 30 minutes to shop or withdraw money. “They choose where we go and what we buy,” the woman said.

The IOM has also presented deportees with their options: return to their home countries — where many face the persecution they fled — with IOM assistance, or remain in Congo with no support. Her attorney, Alma David, called them “impossible choices,” saying the deportations violated due process rights, U.S. immigration law, and international treaty obligations.

The deportees arrived on three-month Congolese visas. What happens when those expire is unclear. They have been told they can apply for asylum in Congo — an option none have taken.

The woman says she doesn’t feel safe there. The food has made several of them sick. French and Lingala are as foreign as the surroundings. She spends most of her time in her room, making late-night calls to her 10-year-old daughter back in Colombia.

Congolese human rights groups have called the arrangement a violation of international refugee law. The Congo-based Institute for Human Rights Research described it as “arbitrary detention by proxy for the United States.”

The woman, who managed a dessert shop in Colombia before fleeing, says she committed no crime, and just fled to the United States for safety. Instead she is stranded in a country she had never heard of, with no timeline and no plan.

An exterior view of a hotel where a Colombian woman was deported to from the United States, in Kinshasa, Congo, Saturday, May 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)

FILE - Pedestrians slalom between traffic to cross the road in Kinshasa, Congo, Tuesday Jan. 8, 2019. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, file)

A chair is seen outside a hotel room where a Colombian woman was deported to from the United States, in Kinshasa, Congo, Saturday, May 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)