Egyptian authorities are carrying out daily crackdowns on Sudanese refugees and asylum seekers, many of them elderly, women, and children, before deporting them back to the war-torn country as Cairo grapples with the influx of those fleeing conflict.
Reports from local rights groups reveal that the so-called "security campaigns" are being carried out three to four times a day across several key cities, including Aswan, Cairo, and Alexandria.
Security forces descend on busy areas and cities such as the 'Monday Market' in Cairo's Abadeen area, as well as Nasr City, Mohandaseen, Agouza, Nozha, Helwan, Ismalia, Zefta and others, which are frequented by Sudanese refugees due to being cheaper and more socially familiar with already established Sudanese communities.
Some asylum seekers have also been targeted at home, leaving many who have fled war in Sudan living in terror of being rounded up and detained.
The crackdown comes as the UNHCR in 2025 registered over one million Sudanese refugees and asylum seekers in Egypt, though the actual number is believed to be much higher.
Leslie Piquemal, Egypt researcher at the Brussels-based Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, told The New Arab that the deportation of Sudanese refugees had been escalating over the last two and a half years, but reached a new peak in December and January.
She said there was now a "state of widespread fear or terror for refugees and asylum seekers in Egypt, and most of all, Sudanese people who have been targeted in particular via racial profiling by law enforcement for several years".
According to Piquemal, legal experts consider those fleeing Sudan to be prima facie refugees, meaning deporting them back to Sudan, either forcibly or under threat or pressure, violates the principle of non-refoulement under the Geneva Convention, regardless of their administrative status in Egypt.
Nearly 15 million Sudanese people have left the country or are internally displaced, which comes after war broke out in 2023 between the notorious Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group and the Sudanese Armed Forces. Systematic detention, abuse Switzerland-based NGO MENA Rights Group says the crackdowns began in August 2023 after Egypt issued Decree No. 3326, which allows migrants to legalise their stay in the country by paying $1,000 and late fines.
Since then, rights groups have documented hundreds of reports of systematic detention and abuse of Sudanese refugees from Matrouh to Giza and along Egypt's southern border.
Testimonies collected by the group show a pattern of Black people being arrested in various locations, with many denied contact with their families and the UNHCR.
In some cases, pregnant women have reportedly been detained shortly before giving birth, while children and sick people held in camps near the Sudanese border were denied medical care.
Charges have also reportedly been brought against people registered with the UNHCR, with prosecutors accusing detainees of "irregular presence".
Various rights groups have documented cases of Sudanese people with valid documentation also being detained, raising concerns over the scale and motives behind the crackdown.
"The real reasons for the crackdown are most likely multiple: racism, scapegoating refugees for the economic crisis in Egypt, which predates the April 2023 war in Sudan, and creating a hostile environment to pressure Sudanese asylum seekers to leave of their own initiative," Piquemal said.
She added that Egyptian authorities have yet to publicly provide a clear justification for the sweeping security campaigns.
The systematic detentions have prompted fears that Egypt's crackdown is forcing people into exploitation and trafficking, putting asylum seekers at further risk. 'Dying in detention' The independent Sudanese media organisation Ayin Network reported earlier this month that between late February and mid-March, at least three flights forcibly transferred around 450 Sudanese refugees to Port Sudan Airport.
The network also reported that some Sudanese refugees died in detention, including 18-year-old Al-Nadhir al-Sadiq, who was allegedly held for 25 days without medical care despite having valid documentation.
Other reports state that at least six Sudanese men have died in Egyptian detention since the start of 2026.
Some families told rights groups they feared sending their children to school in case they were detained by authorities, while others said they could no longer afford basic goods after the family breadwinner was arrested.
According to MENA Rights Group, refugees facing deportation are often required to obtain travel documents from the Sudanese embassy and purchase flights at their own expense.
For many refugees and asylum seekers, the cost of plane tickets is difficult to afford due to limited employment opportunities in Egypt.
Rights groups have also documented cases of refugees being forced to sign official papers or "voluntary return" forms before deportation.
Authorities have also been accused of charging some migrants with "smuggling" to facilitate their forced return to Sudan.
Despite heated rhetoric in parts of the Egyptian media over the refugee influx, many Sudanese families have largely been left to support themselves while struggling to survive in Egypt.
A 2024 government decree bars refugees without a valid Egyptian residency permit and UNHCR registration from accessing public services, including healthcare and education.
However, funding cuts and limited UNHCR capacity have left many unable to complete the registration process, placing them at heightened risk of detention and deportation.
Returning to Sudan remains dangerous for most refugees as the war continues, food insecurity deepens, and access to healthcare and basic services remains severely restricted. Violation of international laws The ongoing measures targeting migrants in Egypt have sparked concerns that Cairo is violating international law.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Egypt has signed, prohibits the forced return of people to places where they would face torture or cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment.
Egypt is also party to the Convention Against Torture, the African Refugee Convention and the UN Refugee Convention, all of which prohibit returning people to countries where they may face persecution.
"It is particularly striking that Egypt is among the main supporters of one of the warring parties, the Sudanese Armed Forces, in a conflict that has created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises according to UN agencies, while Egyptian authorities are also orchestrating an escalating crackdown on Sudanese refugees and asylum seekers who fled that same conflict," Piquemal said.
Last month, Ambassador Thomas Kenneth Elisapana, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of South Sudan, expressed alarm over South Sudanese citizens being deported and harassed across Egypt and Libya.
Elisapana said some citizens were being forcibly returned to South Sudan against their will and that authorities were using diplomatic channels to push for an end to the deportations.
He also said many deportees had faced harassment, arrests, detention and imprisonment, adding that the South Sudanese government was holding high-level meetings in Juba and abroad to address the situation.
The New Arab reached out to Egyptian authorities for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication