Liberia has agreed to receive a maximum of 1,200 third-country deportees from the United States within the next year, with an initial batch of 20 individuals set to arrive on Thursday, as announced by the government. The deportees will comprise individuals from African and Western Hemisphere nations who have been medically cleared for travel. Specific details regarding the nationalities of the deportees were not immediately provided, as the U.S. State Department does not disclose such information.
Historically, the U.S. has upheld the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits the return of individuals to countries where their human rights or safety may be jeopardized based on factors like race, religion, or nationality. However, since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s term in January 2025, the administration has entered into agreements with various African nations and other countries to deport individuals who cannot be legally sent back to their home countries. These agreements have been defended by Washington as lawful, with minimal judicial intervention despite criticism over the lack of notification provided to deportees.
Legal experts have pointed out that the Trump administration utilizes third-country deportations as a legal workaround, often leading to individuals being sent to unfamiliar locations, compelling them to navigate their way back to their countries of origin. The Liberian President, Joseph Boakai, was part of a delegation of West African leaders who visited the White House last year, where Trump reportedly urged them to accept third-country deportees.
Liberia clarified that the deportees would be treated as guests, allowing them to depart at their discretion and apply for asylum within Liberia if they choose. The government emphasized that the agreement with the U.S. did not involve any reciprocal arrangements or demands for compensation from Washington.
While some Senate Democrats have criticized such agreements as exploitative, pointing out significant costs borne by American taxpayers, other African nations, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Ghana, and Sierra Leone, have also accepted third-country deportees from the U.S.
The Trump administration’s deportation initiatives form part of a broader strategy to reduce the foreign-born population in the U.S., which includes encouraging unauthorized residents to self-deport and revoking a substantial number of visas. Recent judicial decisions have allowed the administration to terminate legal protections for individuals from countries like Ethiopia, South Sudan, Myanmar, and Somalia, who had been granted temporary protected status.
The termination of these protections, which had been in place since the 1990s for individuals from conflict-ridden or disaster-affected nations, has faced criticism from various quarters, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, citing economic impacts and concerns over migrant treatment in the country.