US Sends 20 Deportees to Liberia Under New Migrant Deal

The United States has sent 20 deportees to Liberia, marking the arrival of the first group under a new agreement where the African nation will receive a total of 1,200 migrants. The deportees arrived at Roberts International Airport near Monrovia on Thursday.

This Liberia-U.S. accord is described as one of the largest third-country deportations resulting from the Trump administration's intensified immigration crackdown. Liberian Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah stated that the 1,200 individuals will include nationals from Africa, North America, South America, and the Caribbean.

Liberian Justice Minister Natu Oswald Tweh indicated that most deportees had violated migration laws and would have the option to seek asylum within Liberia. However, immigration lawyers argue that the U.S. administration employs these third-country deportations as a legal tactic to compel asylum seekers to return to their home countries, often sending individuals to nations they have never visited or where they face safety risks.

Advocates report that the Trump administration has facilitated thousands of deportations to nearly two dozen countries that are not the migrants' home nations, with about ten of these agreements involving African countries. Critics contend that this practice leaves migrants with little choice but to return to the very countries they fled.

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the majority of the deportees had committed migration-related violations and offenses, and that they could seek asylum in the West African country if they wished.