Liberia agreed Tuesday to receive up to 1,200 third-country deportees from the United States, in one of the largest agreements of the Trump administration’s migration campaign.
Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah confirmed that those transferred will be received within one year and that the first group of 20 people will arrive this Thursday. The deportees will include Africans as well as citizens from North America, South America and the Caribbean, he said.
Justice Minister Natu Oswald Tweh said at a press conference that the country examined the list of migrants before their arrival. Phia added that the deportees may apply for asylum in Liberia after their arrival or leave the country whenever they wish. He said Liberia will receive support from the United States to manage the program and strengthen its immigration system.
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“Liberia’s gesture is entirely humanitarian and is in line with the country’s deep-rooted traditions,” Piah said. “The Liberian government intends to provide the transferred people with the necessary support to seek protection in Liberia and be safe during their stay here.”
This map shows where the Trump administration has deported immigrants and refugees to countries that aren’t their own.
Third-country deportations send people to countries they may have never been.
Today, Liberia agreed to accept 1,200 third-country deportees from the US. pic.twitter.com/QrL6dI4cj4
— Institute for Global Affairs (@InGlobalAffairs) August 18, 2026
According to human rights organizations, the Trump administration has deported thousands of people to nearly two dozen countries that are not their own under a series of often secret agreements, about 10 of which are in Africa. Such agreements can include migrants with protection orders issued by U.S. immigration judges that prevent them from returning to their countries of origin. The Liberian minister did not specify whether the expected deportees have such orders.
Immigration lawyers say the administration uses third-country deportations as a legal loophole to indirectly force asylum seekers to return to their countries of origin. In many cases, migrants are deported to nations they never visited or where they face security risks.
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