Why is Liberia taking in 1,200 US deportees?
A view of a street in Monrovia, January 29, 2013.
Photo credit: Reuters
What you need to know:
- First group of 20 deportees expected to arrive Thursday
- US has brokered deals in Africa to accelerate removals
- Liberia says arrangement not 'a quid pro quo' with Washington
- Deportees will have right to seek asylum, statement says
Liberia has agreed to accept up to 1,200 third-country deportees from the US in the next 12 months, with an initial group of 20 deportees expected to arrive on Thursday, the government said in a statement on Tuesday.
Since taking office in January last year, the Trump administration has struck several deals with African countries on deporting people it cannot legally send to their home countries.
The deportees have in most cases obtained legal protection against repatriation after US immigration judges ruled they risked torture or other abuses in their home countries.
Washington has defended the third-country deals as lawful, although rights groups and advocates have said the details are opaque and many of the deportees are ultimately repatriated.
The Liberian government's statement said the deportees "will include citizens or nationals of African and Western Hemisphere countries who are medically authorised to travel."
No information was immediately available on the nationalities of the deportees. The State Department said it does not disclose such details.
Liberia's president Joseph Nyumah Boakai.
Liberia says deal not 'a quid pro quo'
Other African countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Ghana and Sierra Leone have also accepted third-country deportees.
Liberia said on Tuesday that the deportees would be received "as guests" who could leave when they wanted and who could apply for asylum in Liberia.
The statement said the deal did not involve a quid pro quo with Washington and Monrovia was not demanding compensation for taking the deportees.
It added, however, that the government would receive "support to help manage the program and strengthen its migration system more broadly." It offered no further details.
The statement also referenced Liberia's history as a refuge for freed slaves from the US and as a country with "a long history of accepting people seeking refuge from political and other crises."
Senegal's President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, Guinea-Bissau's President Umaro Sissoco, Mauritania's President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, Liberian President Joseph Boakai and Gabon's President Brice Oligui Nguema attend a lunch for African representatives of Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, and Senegal hosted by U.S. President.
Photo credit: REUTERS
President Joseph Boakai was one of five West African leaders who travelled to the White House last year to meet with Trump.
Reuters reported at the time that Trump had urged the leaders to accept third-country deportees.
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