Liberia has agreed to judge up to 1,200 foreigners deported from the US implicit the adjacent twelvemonth successful 1 of the biggest deals agreed truthful acold by Washington arsenic it continues its clampdown connected amerciable migration.
Such agreements with different countries person often progressive radical who are legally protected from returning to their ain countries, for reasons specified arsenic persecution. It is not wide if those coming to Liberia person extortion orders.
"The authorities wants to emphasise that those being brought to Liberia are being received arsenic guests," Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah said.
An archetypal radical of 20 are owed to onshore connected Thursday and would beryllium escaped to spell erstwhile they wished oregon could use for asylum, helium said.
None of the deportees were criminals oregon facing prosecution successful the US oregon Liberia, Piah said.
They were being accepted "in keeping with Liberia's long-standing contented of being a state that has provided structure to each those seeking refuge and extortion from persecution, wars and different forms of conflict," the curate added, stressing it was a humanitarian arrangement.
No accusation has been provided astir the nationalities of the deportees.
US President Donald Trump's medication has deported dozens of radical to what are termed "third countries" since coming into powerfulness successful January 2025.
Several African countries, including Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone, person already struck deals to person those the US cannot legally nonstop backmost to their location countries.
The US has defended the third-country deals arsenic lawful, contempt rights groups criticising the arrangements arsenic opaque and galore of the deportees yet being repatriated.
Ghana has faced ineligible suits implicit accusations that is has forced deportees from the US backmost to countries they fled, successful usurpation of their rights.
On Tuesday, the Eswatini authorities said 2 radical who had been deported from the US to the confederate African kingdom had voluntarily returned to their location countries: Mauritania and DR Congo.
Eswatini confirmed past twelvemonth that it had received $5.1m (£3.8m) from the Trump medication amid dense disapproval from rights groups.
Piah said Liberia had "not demanded oregon received immoderate compensation oregon committedness of rewards successful speech for its consent to enactment successful the programme".
He insisted it was "entirely humanitarian", but added that the West African federation would beryllium getting US enactment to negociate the programme and broadly fortify the migration system.
The US State Department has not commented connected the scheme.
Piah referenced however Liberia had been founded arsenic a federation successful the aboriginal 19th Century arsenic a colony for erstwhile slaves and freed achromatic radical from the United States and the Caribbean.
"We person ever welcomed radical who cannot instrumentality to their location of origin, and to cull these 3rd state nationals would beryllium acting against our champion interest," helium said.
English (US)·