Liberia agrees to accept 1,200 third-country deportees from US

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.

TheCable reported that Nigeria’s refusal to accept asylum seekers from the US was partly responsible for the recent visa restrictions imposed on the country by Trump. (TheCable)