Liberia to accept 1,200 third-country deportees from U.S.
Liberia announced Tuesday that it will accept up to 1,200 third-country deportees from the U.S. over the next year under an agreement between the two countries. The first group of 20 deportees is expected to arrive Thursday, according to Liberia's Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah.
The deportees will include Africans as well as nationals from North America, South America and the Caribbean, Piah told reporters. The arrangement is based on an exchange of notes between the two countries on September 4 and September 10, 2025, and the first batch of 20 individuals will arrive in Liberia on Thursday, August 20, 2026.
Piah said the deportees would be received "as guests," could leave when they wanted, and could apply for asylum in Liberia. He also said Liberia will receive support from the U.S. to manage the program and strengthen its migration system. But he said the deal was not a quid pro quo and that Liberia was not demanding compensation.
"Liberia's gesture is entirely humanitarian and in keeping with the country's longstanding traditions," Piah said. "The government of Liberia intends to provide the transferred persons with the necessary support to seek protection in Liberia and to be safe during their stay here."
Background and context
Liberia's President Joseph Boakai was one of five West African leaders who traveled to the White House last year to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump. The Liberian government has referenced its historical ties to the U.S., including its roots in a 19th-century settlement established for free and formerly enslaved Black Americans. Liberia, the first black African independent nation on the African continent, has a long history of accepting people seeking refuge from political and other crises, and has no history of deporting anyone for living in Liberia irregularly or without documentation.
Justice Minister Natu Oswald Tweh said the country has screened the migrants, and "Most of them are people who had immigration violations and offenses." The Liberian government said the arriving deportees are not criminals and are not being prosecuted under U.S. or Liberian law.
U.S. policy and broader context
Since Trump returned to the White House in January of last year, his administration has reached several deals with African countries to accept third-country deportees, including in some cases migrants who have legal protections barring their return to their countries of origin because of risks of torture, persecution or other abuses. The administration has deported thousands of people to nearly two dozen countries that are not their own, with about 10 of them in Africa, according to immigration advocates.
The U.S.-Liberia agreement says Liberia will not return a transferred person to their home country while a protection claim is pending. Rights groups say some migrants have been sent to countries they have never visited or where they could face safety risks.
Other African countries that have taken in third-country deportees include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Ghana and Sierra Leone. The Supreme Court last year stayed a lower-court order that had imposed additional procedural requirements on third-country removals while litigation continued.
Piah did not say whether any of those expected to arrive in Liberia have protection orders barring their return to their home countries. The Government of Liberia has made necessary preparations for their reception at the Roberts International Airport and for their stay in Liberia.