Liberia agreed to accept 1,200 deportees from the US over the next year, one of the largest such deals agreed by Washington.
Though the US has reportedly offered to lift tariffs or ease visa restrictions for host countries in return for accepting deportees, Monrovia said the deal was “not a transaction with a quid pro quo.” Instead, Washington will help manage the program and support the strengthening of Liberia’s own immigration system.
Liberia’s Justice Minister Natu Oswald Tweh said most of the deportees had “immigration violations and offenses” and the list had been screened by Monrovia. It is not clear whether any of the deportees hold US immigration court protection orders that bar their return to home countries over safety concerns. The orders have been a recurring flashpoint in these deals, with legal complaints alleging officials in Equatorial Guinea and Ghana forcibly sent third-country deportees to their home nations in violation of the orders.
