A Ugandan pastor and asylum seeker detained by US immigration authorities has told a federal court that he was brutally tortured in Uganda, including being placed in a pit with a live python and subjected to genital mutilation.
Steven Tendo, a Ugandan national living in Vermont, says he was targeted by security forces because of activism authorities viewed as a political threat.
In sworn statements filed before US courts, Tendo alleged that security officers put him in a pit with a live python that whipped his body with its tail, leaving him severely bruised. He further claimed that officers hung him from a board with a brick tied to his genitals, leaving him suspended until he began bleeding.
Tendo is missing two fingers on his left hand, which he says were cut off using wire cutters during his detention.
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The Nile Post was unable to independently verify the alleged political activities of Mr Tendo in Uganda and Police were yet to respond to the allegations at the time of publishing this story.
Now held by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Tendo was arrested outside his workplace in Shelburne, Vermont, on Wednesday, February 4.
He was later transferred to Strafford County Jail in Dover, New Hampshire, where he remains in custody pending deportation to Uganda.
ICE says a federal immigration judge denied Tendo's asylum request in 2019 and issued a final order of removal. The agency maintains that he has exhausted all available legal appeals.
Tendo's lawyer, Chris Worth, has filed emergency motions seeking his release, citing serious medical concerns. Worth said his client has Type 2 diabetes and has not received his prescribed medication while in detention.
"The government has been notified continuously of this condition. Despite numerous emails, calls, and communications since his detention, nothing has happened," Worth said.
Representatives from US Senator Bernie Sanders' office confirmed they had contacted Strafford County Corrections to intervene.
"We are doing everything we can to ensure his safety, get him the medications he needs, and return him safely home to Vermont," Sanders said.
Vermont's congressional delegation -- Representative Becca Balint, Senator Peter Welch and Senator Bernie Sanders -- described Tendo's detention as "horrifying" in a joint statement.
"Pastor Tendo fled persecution and torture in Uganda and has lived peacefully in Vermont for many years as a valued member of our community," the lawmakers said.
According to court records, Tendo fled Uganda in 2018 after founding an advocacy group that authorities allegedly viewed as a political threat. The filings describe severe abuse, including genital torture, the loss of two fingers, and beatings involving a python.
Tendo has told US authorities that returning to Uganda would be "a death sentence." His legal team argues that deporting him would violate US asylum law and international human rights protections against refoulement -- the forced return of individuals to countries where they risk persecution or torture.
"This is exactly the type of case the US asylum system was designed to protect," said Will Lambek, an organiser with the Vermont-based advocacy group Migrant Justice. "Sending him back to Uganda would be extremely dangerous."
Tendo entered the United States through Brownsville, Texas, in 2018 and applied for asylum. He spent more than two years detained at the Port Isabel Detention Center before narrowly avoiding deportation in 2020 following intervention by members of Congress and advocacy groups. He was released on humanitarian parole in 2021.
In Vermont, he worked as a licensed nursing assistant at the University of Vermont Medical Center. His union, UVMMC Support Staff United, said he had committed no crimes prior to his arrest.
About 50 supporters gathered outside ICE's St. Albans facility this week, calling for his immediate release.
Tendo's asylum claim was initially denied in 2019 over what immigration authorities cited as inconsistencies in his account. His lawyers argue that any discrepancies do not eliminate the risk of torture if he is returned to Uganda.
Multiple appeals have since failed.
In November 2025, his legal team filed a petition with the US Board of Immigration Appeals seeking to block his removal.
Worth said Tendo was arrested just two days before a scheduled ICE check-in, raising questions about the timing.
During a previous period of detention in Texas, Tendo reportedly developed cataracts due to lack of medical treatment. He has filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Homeland Security alleging medical neglect; the case remains pending.
Tendo's case comes amid wider scrutiny of Ugandan nationals in US immigration custody. Six Ugandans have been listed on the website of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as among the "worst of the worst" arrested by immigration authorities.
The department, which oversees public security in the US, said the individuals were arrested by ICE following various convictions.
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The six are Hannington Mutenga, who was arrested in Salt Lake City, Utah, after a conviction for assault, Kiwanna Mukiibi, arrested in San Diego, California, convicted of aggravated assault with a weapon (non-family) and assault, and Adrian Kawuba, arrested in White Deer, Pennsylvania, following a conviction for wire fraud.
The others are Winner Mangeni, who arrested in Lowell, Massachusetts, convicted of assault and flight to avoid prosecution or confinement, Derrick Sserwanja, arrested in Fort Snelling, Minnesota, convicted of sexual exploitation of a minor via telecommunications, and Daudah Mayanja -- arrested in Bennington, Vermont, convicted of sexual assault.
While Tendo's lawyers stress that he poses no threat to public safety, the context of other Ugandan nationals detained by ICE underscores the complexity of immigration enforcement in the United States.
Emergency hearings on Tendo's detention are scheduled in US District Court in New Hampshire.
An official at the US Embassy in New York told the Nile Post he was not authorised to speak on the case and referred this news website to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kampala.
But Mr Vincent Bagiire, the ministry permanent secretary, was not immediately available by telephone. He was yet to respond to an email request for a comment on the developments.
