The Liberian government has agreed to accept up to 1,200 third-country deportees from the United States over the next 12 months.
In a statement on Tuesday, the West African country said an
initial group of 20 deportees is expected to arrive on Thursday.
The nationalities of the deportees were not disclosed.
However, the Liberian government said they “will include citizens or nationals
of African and Western Hemisphere countries
who are medically authorized to travel”.
“The government wants to emphasise that those being brought
to Liberia are being received as guests,” Jerolinmek Piah, Liberian information
minister, said.
Piah said the deportees would be free to leave when they
wished or could apply for asylum.
He added that none of the deportees are criminals or facing
prosecution in the US or Liberia.
The minister said the decision was “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 statement said Monrovia is not demanding compensation
for taking the deportees. However, it added that the government would receive
“support to help manage the program and strengthen
its migration system more broadly”.
According to Piah, the deal is “entirely humanitarian”.
Since taking office in January last year, US President
Donald Trump’s administration has struck several deals with African countries, including Ghana, Equatorial
Guinea, Eswatini, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone, to receive
people whom the US cannot legally return to their home countries.
Liberian President Joseph Boakai was one of
five West African leaders
who travelled to the White House last
year to meet with Trump.
The US had sought to strike a similar deal with Nigeria but
was unsuccessful.
Nigeria’s refusal to accept asylum seekers from the US was
partly responsible for the recent visa restrictions imposed on the country by
Trump.
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