Liberia will receive up to 1,200 foreign nationals deported from the United States over the next year, a move that hands the West African nation immediate new responsibilities for arrivals Washington cannot return to their countries of origin. Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah said the decision reflected Liberia’s history and its humanitarian obligations, and he described the people to be returned as guests.
Piah said an initial group of 20 deportees is expected to land on Thursday. He added those individuals would be free to leave when they wished or could apply for asylum. The minister also told reporters none of the people arriving were criminals or facing prosecution in the United States or in Liberia.
State officials have not disclosed the nationalities of those due to be sent to Liberia, and the government did not confirm whether any have existing protection orders. Piah insisted Liberia had "not demanded or received any compensation or promise of rewards in exchange for its consent to participate in the programme" and characterised the arrangement as "entirely humanitarian." He also said Liberia would gain US support to manage the operation and to broadly strengthen its migration system.
The agreement follows a wider pattern by the United States under the Trump administration, which has, since January 2025, deported dozens of people to so-called third countries. Several African states, including Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone, have already signed similar deals. Those arrangements have drawn criticism from rights groups for lacking transparency, and some have produced legal challenges, notably in Ghana.
Eswatini publicly said two people it received from the US later returned to Mauritania and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and earlier acknowledged it had accepted $5.1m from Washington. Liberia’s ministers emphasise their long-standing refugee tradition and present the deal as a continuation of that policy, but the coming weeks will determine whether the programme prompts legal scrutiny or operational strains for the government and civil society handling arrivals.
