Sierra Leone has reached an agreement with the United States to accept hundreds of West African migrants deported from U.S. territory, Sierra Leonean Foreign Minister Timothy Kabba announced Friday. This decision is part of the Trump administration's strategy to expedite the deportation of migrants to third countries.
According to Timothy Kabba, the first flight carrying deportees is scheduled to arrive in Sierra Leone on May 20. It will transport 25 nationals from Senegal, Ghana, Guinea, and Nigeria. These migrants are not Sierra Leonean citizens but will be welcomed into the country under the new agreement reached with Washington.
The minister specified that the agreement provides for the resettlement of up to 300 nationals from ECOWAS member states per year, with a limit of 25 people per month. This is a new example of cooperation between the United States and certain African countries in managing migrant deportations.
The Trump administration has already sent deported migrants to several African countries in recent months, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and Eswatini. These transfers sometimes involve people being sent back to countries where they do not hold citizenship.
This policy has drawn sharp criticism from human rights organizations and legal experts. Several observers question the legal basis of these agreements and are concerned about the conditions under which deportees are received in third countries.
US authorities, however, defend these agreements as a way to enhance the effectiveness of deportations and reduce the difficulties associated with returning migrants to their countries of origin when those countries refuse to cooperate or are slow to issue the necessary documents.
The announcement of this agreement comes amid a hardening of US immigration policy. Donald Trump having made mass expulsions and reinforced border control one of the central axes of his return to power.
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