play Live Sign upShow navigation menuplay Live Click here to searchsearchSign upNews|Civil RightsLiberia to take 1,200 deportees from the USThe first group of 20 deportees is expected to arrive in the coming days.
xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogleAdd Al Jazeera on GoogleinfoMigrants deported by the US walk to the bus upon the flight arrival at Ramon Villeda Morales international airport on January 31, 2025, in San Pedro Sula, Honduras [Jorge Salvador Cabrera/Getty Images]By Umar Farooq and APPublished On 18 Aug 202618 Aug 2026Liberia will accept up to 1,200 third-country deportees from the United States, the country’s Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah told reporters in the capital, Monrovia.
The first group of 20 deportees is expected to arrive on Thursday, Piah told reporters on Tuesday. The country would be taking nationals from Africa, North and South America and the Caribbean.
“The government wants to emphasise that those being brought to Liberia are being received as guests of the Republic,” Piah said, adding they would “remain free to depart the country when they so desire.”
The Trump administration has made agreements with at least 35 countries for accepting third-country deportees, according to Refugees International and Human Rights First, two groups tracking the deals.
The Liberian deal would be for the largest number of deportees under those arrangements so far.
The US has sent approximately 22,000 people to 26 countries they did not originate from as of early August 2026, according to the rights groups.
Liberia and the US entered an agreement in 2025 that was made public in March 2026, and would ensure that asylum seekers and others needing protection would be able to stay in the country if deported there.
The US has tried to convince courts to let it send Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an El Salvador native whose case has drawn national attention, to Liberia. As a reward for agreeing to accept Garcia in 2025, the Trump administration at one point extended the validity of certain visas for Liberians from 12 to 36 months, and committed $124m for the country’s health services.
The Liberia deportations agreement is being challenged by several lawsuits in the US.
