Liberia agrees to take in 1,200 people deported from the United States

Monrovia has reached an agreement with Washington to receive up to 1,200 foreign nationals deported from the United States over a period of one year. A first group of twenty people is scheduled to arrive as early as Thursday.

Liberia is becoming one of the most important African partners in the Trump administration's migration policy. The agreement, announced by Liberian Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah, provides for the resettlement of foreign nationals whom the United States cannot legally return to their countries of origin, particularly due to the risk of persecution.

The nationalities of those involved were not specified. Piah did, however, assure that none of them were criminals or wanted in either the United States or Liberia. He added that the first group of twenty people would be free to leave as they wished or to apply for asylum.

The minister described the operation as "entirely humanitarian," recalling the country's history, founded in the 19th century as a haven for freed slaves and free Black people from the United States and the Caribbean. "We have always welcomed people who cannot return to their countries of origin," he said, adding that refusing these third-country nationals would be "against our interests."

Unlike other countries that have entered into similar arrangements, Monrovia claims to have "neither demanded nor received any compensation or promise of reward." Liberia will nevertheless receive US support to manage the program and strengthen its migration system, although the financial details have not been specified.

Several African nations have already signed similar agreements with Washington: Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sierra Leone. Eswatini confirmed in November that it had received $5,1 million from the US administration, sparking strong criticism from human rights organizations. Ghana, meanwhile, is facing legal action, accused of forcibly returning deportees to the countries they had fled.

The U.S. State Department has not commented on the Liberian agreement. Human rights groups regularly denounce the lack of transparency surrounding these so-called "third-country" arrangements, the legality of which remains contested.