Post a comment 
The first flight carrying West African migrants deported from the United States will arrive in Sierra Leone on Wednesday, May 20, the country’s Foreign Minister has confirmed.
Foreign Minister Timothy Kabba said the flight will transport 25 nationals from Senegal, Ghana, Guinea, and Nigeria.
Sierra Leone has signed a “Third Country National Agreement” with the U.S. to accept up to 300 nationals from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) per year, with a maximum of 25 per month, Kabba told Reuters.
The deal is part of the Trump administration’s push to accelerate deportations . The U.S. has previously sent third-country deportees to other African nations including Ghana, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Eswatini.
Kabba did not disclose what Sierra Leone would receive in return for accepting the deportees, stating only that “it’s part of our bilateral relationship with the U.S. to assist with its immigration policy”.
It remains unclear whether the deportees will be allowed to stay in Sierra Leone.
A February report by Democrats on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee said more than $32 million had been sent directly to five countries — Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, El Salvador, Eswatini, and Palau — participating in similar deportation arrangements.
The U.S. and Sierra Leone have previously clashed over deportations. In 2017, during the first Trump administration, Washington imposed visa restrictions on Sierra Leonean foreign ministry and immigration officials after accusing the government of refusing to accept deported Sierra Leonean citizens.
Legal experts and rights groups have criticized third-country deportations, raising concerns about deportees being sent to nations where they are not citizens and, in some cases, forced to return to their home countries despite receiving court-ordered protection in the U.S.
