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Liberia has agreed to accept up to 1,200 deportees from the United States over the next year, following a new bilateral agreement aimed at managing immigration enforcement. The announcement was made on Tuesday by Liberia’s Information Minister, Jerolinmek Piah, who said the first group of 20 deportees is expected to arrive this Thursday.
This arrangement represents one of the largest of its kind under the Trump administration’s intensified immigration crackdown. Liberia’s President Joseph Boakai was among five West African leaders who met with President Donald Trump at the White House last year to discuss such collaborations.
According to Minister Piah, the deportees will include individuals from various regions, including Africa, North America, South America, and the Caribbean. He emphasized that the deportees would be treated “as guests,” with the freedom to leave Liberia and the option to apply for asylum within the country. Liberia will also receive U.S. support to help manage the program and enhance its migration system.
Piah stressed that this agreement is a humanitarian gesture rooted in Liberia’s historical ties to the United States and its longstanding tradition of providing refuge to people fleeing political or other crises. He clarified that the deal does not involve any form of compensation or quid pro quo arrangement with the U.S. government.
Liberia’s Justice Minister, Natu Oswald Tweh, confirmed that migrants have undergone screening before their arrival. Most have prior immigration violations, but none are considered criminals or are facing prosecution under U.S. or Liberian law.
Since January of last year, the Trump administration has secured several agreements with African nations to accept third-country deportees – individuals who are being removed from the U.S. but are not originally from the receiving countries. Some of these migrants have had legal protections against return to their home countries due to risks of torture or persecution, though it remains unclear if any in the Liberia group have such protections.
Human rights organizations have raised concerns that some deportees have been sent to countries they have never visited and where they may face safety risks, potentially pressuring them to return to their countries of origin. Liberia, along with countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Ghana, and Sierra Leone, is part of this broader network of nations cooperating in these third-country deportation agreements.
The U.S.-Liberia agreement includes provisions to ensure that no transferred individual will be sent back to their home country while a protection claim is pending. Both governments have committed to respecting their obligations under refugee and anti-torture laws.
This development highlights the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to expand immigration enforcement and manage migrant populations through international partnerships.