US begins deporting migrants to Liberia under 1,200-person pact

The US landed an initial group of 20 deportees in Liberia on Thursday, the first flight under an agreement for the West African nation to accept up to 1,200 third-country nationals over the next year.

"Those being brought to Liberia are being received as guests of the Republic, in keeping with Liberia's longstanding tradition of being a country that has provided shelter to all those seeking refuge and protection from persecution, wars and other forms of conflict," Jerolinmek Matthew Piah, Liberia's information minister, said.

The deportees include nationals from Africa, North America, South America and the Caribbean, Piah said. The Trump administration has reached third-country deportation agreements with more than 35 nations, including South Sudan, Mexico and Uganda, and has transferred more than 23,000 people, according to the Third Country Deportation Watch, a partnership between Refugees International and Human Rights First.

The Liberia arrangement is one of the largest single-country commitments in the program, which rights groups say risks "chain refoulement" — the practice of a receiving country sending asylum seekers back to the nations they originally fled. Liberia's justice minister, Natu Oswald Tweh, said arrivals may seek asylum in Liberia or leave whenever they wish.

A US official said a small group of deportees resisted and refused to deplane after the aircraft landed at Roberts International Airport, about 40 miles east of Monrovia. They were escorted off the plane but returned to it, the official said, and their whereabouts are unknown. The Department of Homeland Security declined to confirm the operation, citing operational security, while the State Department said it does not comment on private diplomatic communications.

Liberia's humanitarian framing

Liberia's decision is rooted in its history as a settlement for formerly enslaved and freed Black people from the US and the Caribbean, Piah said. The country, with about 5.7 million residents, sits between Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast on Africa's western edge. Piah said Liberia has "not demanded or received any compensation or promise of rewards" in exchange for participating, and that the US will provide support to manage the program and strengthen Liberia's migration system.

The agreement has drawn scrutiny because of the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national mistakenly deported to a prison in El Salvador last year. After a federal judge blocked sending him back to El Salvador, the administration said it could deport him to Liberia. Abrego Garcia has said he would accept relocation to Costa Rica, and he is challenging the Liberia plan in a federal lawsuit in Maryland.

Other African nations with similar arrangements include Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone. Immigration lawyers argue the third-country transfers function as a legal loophole to indirectly push asylum seekers back to their home countries, since many deportees have no prior connection to their new destination.

The program's expansion reflects a broader shift in US immigration enforcement under Trump, who has made border security and deportation a centerpiece of his second-term agenda. The administration has defended the third-country arrangements as lawful, arguing they provide a deterrent to illegal immigration while respecting the sovereignty of partner nations.

The Liberia agreement, reached in September 2025 and published on the State Department's website, does not specify the number of people to be accepted or their nationalities. The six-page document leaves the operational details to the two governments, a structure that rights groups say lacks transparency and accountability.

Legal challenges to the third-country program are likely to intensify as more flights land. Federal courts have already blocked some transfers, including the effort to send Abrego Garcia to Liberia, and immigration advocates are preparing further litigation.

The agreement runs for one year and could ultimately involve up to 1,200 third-country nationals. Liberia said it has neither requested nor received compensation, and that the US will provide support to manage the program and strengthen Liberia's migration system.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.