Thursday marked the arrival of the first planeload of deportees from the United States in Liberia, touching down at Roberts International Airport near Monrovia. This initial group of 20 individuals is part of a broader arrangement under which Liberia has agreed to accept up to 1,200 migrants, as reported by The Guardian.
The pact between Monrovia and Washington stands out as one of the most substantial third-country resettlement deals stemming from the current U.S. administration’s intensified immigration crackdown. According to Liberian Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah, the full contingent of 1,200 will not be limited to Africans; it will also include individuals hailing from North America, South America, and the Caribbean.
Speaking at a Tuesday press conference, JustICE Minister Natu Oswald Tweh noted that most of those being sent over have been accused of immigration-related infractions. He added that the newcomers are free to apply for asylum within Liberia if they choose to do so.
Critics and advocacy groups point out that the Trump administration has quietly negotiated numerous such deals, often without public scrutiny, resulting in thousands of individuals being flown to nearly two dozen nations where they hold no citizenship. Roughly half of those destination countries are located in Africa.
Legal experts argue that these third-country transfers function as a workaround, allowing U.S. authorities to effectively push asylum seekers back toward their countries of origin without formally ordering their return. Many of the affected migrants end up in places they have never set foot in before, or where they may face genuine danger, leaving them with few options other than to head back to the very situations they fled.
The source material does not elaborate on the Liberian government’s rationale for entering into this agreement, nor does it include any official comment from U.S. authorities on the matter.