The first flight carrying 20 deportees landed at Roberts International Airport on the outskirts of Liberia's capital, Monrovia, on Thursday (Feb 27), under a new deal between the US and the West African nation. This is the first batch of 1,200 migrants Liberia will receive under the agreement.
According to Liberia's Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah, the 1,200 deportees will include African citizens as well as nationals from North America, South America, and the Caribbean.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Liberia's Justice Minister Natu Oswald Tweh said most of the deportees had violated regulations and laws related to immigration. They may apply for asylum in the West African nation if they wish.
The US-Liberia deal is seen as one of the largest third-country deportations under the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. According to advocates, through a series of often secretive agreements, the Trump administration has deported thousands of people to nearly two dozen countries where they do not hold citizenship, including about 10 in Africa.
Immigration lawyers say the Trump administration uses third-country deportations as a legal loophole to indirectly force asylum seekers to return to their countries of origin. In many cases, deportees are sent to countries they have never set foot in or where they face safety risks, leaving them with little choice but to return to the very nations they fled.
