Liberia to begin accepting up to 1,200 deportees from the U.S.

Liberia has agreed to accept up to 1,200 third-country deportees from the U.S. in the next 12 months, with an initial group of 20 expected to arrive on Thursday, the ​government said in a statement.

The Liberian government’s statement on Tuesday said the deportees “will include citizens or nationals of ⁠African and Western Hemisphere countries who are medically authorized to travel.”

No information was immediately available on the nationalities of the deportees. The U.S. State Department said it does not disclose such details.

The U.S. in the past has signed adhered to the principle of non-refoulement in both domestic immigration law and through international treaties. It’s an obligation not to return migrants to countries of origin or third-party countries where their human rights, or even their lives or freedom, could be threatened for reasons of race, religion or nationality.

But since taking ​office in January 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has struck several deals with many African countries, as well as some elsewhere in the world, to deport people it cannot legally send to their home countries. Washington has defended the third-country deals as lawful, and judges have been loathe to interfere in an executive branch priority, though some have criticized the lack of notice given to deportees.

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Immigration lawyers have said the Trump administration uses third-country deportations as a legal loophole because, in many cases, migrants are deported to places they’ve never been are left with little choice other than to find a way to the home countries from which they were fleeing.

Liberian 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.

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 government’s statement said the deal did not involve a quid ⁠pro quo with Washington, and Monrovia was not demanding compensation for taking the deportees.

But in a February report, a number of Senate Democrats characterized these type of agreements as exploitative in nature. They alleged deals with five countries alone — Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, El Salvador, Eswatini and Palau — had cost American taxpayers $32 million US.

“Deportation is being used as a bargaining chip,” the senators said. “It is being conducted through secret cash payments and quiet concessions. Countries are being pressured with threats of tariffs, visa bans or cuts to assistance.”

Other African countries that have accepted U.S. third-country deportees including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Ghana and Sierra Leone.

U.S. moves to end TPS for Ethiopians in country

The deportations are part of a multipronged strategy from the Trump administration to reduce the foreign-born population in the United States. The government has urged unauthorized people in the country to self-deport, and last week announced it had revoked more than 175,000 visas from foreign nationals.

A federal judge on Tuesday allowed ‌the Trump administration to end legal protections granted to more than 5,000 Ethiopians that had allowed them to live and work in the United States, following similar decisions by judges in recent weeks in cases involving people originally from South Sudan, Myanmar and Somalia.

Quebec advocates urge Canada to protect Haitian refugees fearing U.S. deportation

In June, the U.S. removed protections that prevented Haitians from being deported. Now, some advocates say Canada needs to rethink its Safe Third Country Agreement with the U.S. for Haitians seeking asylum.

U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston lifted the last judicial block on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security terminating the temporary protected status (TPS) designation for individual countries after ​the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the administration in June to end similar ​protections for thousands of people from Haiti and Syria.

The protections have brought people to the U.S. since the 1990s, from countries experiencing armed conflict or environmental disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes. Trump and many Republicans in Congress have argued they were never meant to be a permanent status, and that some of the recipients could have applied for asylum since arriving.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been among the organizations criticizing the end of TPS protections, arguing it would hurt the U.S. economy and deprive sectors like construction and health care with needed workers in a time of demographic challenges due to retirements and declining birth rates.

As well, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has criticized the “villification” of migrants in the country in a rare statement that was supported by Pope Leo, the Chicago-born pontiff.