Liberia agrees to accept 1,200 foreign deportees from the US

Liberia has agreed to accept up to 1,200 foreigners deported from the US over the next year in one of the biggest deals agreed so far by Washington as it continues its clampdown on illegal migration.

Such agreements with other countries have often involved people who are legally protected from returning to their own countries, for reasons such as persecution. It is not clear if those coming to Liberia have protection orders.

"The government wants to emphasise that those being brought to Liberia are being received as guests," Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah said.

An initial group of 20 are due to land on Thursday and would be free to go when they wished or could apply for asylum, he said.

None of the deportees were criminals or facing prosecution in the US or Liberia, Piah said.

They were being accepted "in keeping with Liberia's long-standing tradition of being a country that has provided shelter to all those seeking refuge and protection from persecution, wars and other forms of conflict," the minister added, stressing it was a humanitarian arrangement.

No information has been provided about the nationalities of the deportees.

US President Donald Trump's administration has deported dozens of people to what are termed "third countries" since coming into power in January 2025.

Several African countries, including Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone, have already struck deals to receive those the US cannot legally send back to their home countries.

The US has defended the third-country deals as lawful, despite rights groups criticising the arrangements as opaque and many of the deportees ultimately being repatriated.

Ghana has faced legal suits over accusations that is has forced deportees from the US back to countries they fled, in violation of their rights.

On Tuesday, the Eswatini government said two people who had been deported from the US to the southern African kingdom had voluntarily returned to their home countries: Mauritania and DR Congo.

Eswatini confirmed last year that it had received $5.1m (£3.8m) from the Trump administration amid heavy criticism from rights groups.

Piah said Liberia had "not demanded or received any compensation or promise of rewards in exchange for its consent to participate in the programme".

He insisted it was "entirely humanitarian", but added that the West African nation would be getting US support to manage the programme and broadly strengthen the migration system.

The US State Department has not commented on the scheme.

Piah referenced how Liberia had been founded as a nation in the early 19th Century as a settlement for former slaves and freed black people from the United States and the Caribbean.

"We have always welcomed people who cannot return to their home of origin, and to reject these third country nationals would be acting against our best interest," he said.