Sierra Leone has agreed to take in hundreds of West African migrants who are being deported by the United States, its foreign minister has said – the latest deal as part of the Trump administration’s bid to accelerate removals.
The first flight of so-called third-country deportees will arrive in Sierra Leone on 20 May transporting 25 nationals from Senegal, Ghana, Guinea and Nigeria, Foreign Minister Timothy Kabba told Reuters.
“Sierra Leone signed a Third Country National Agreement with the US to accept 300 Ecowas citizens from the US per year with a maximum of 25 a month," Kabba said, referring to the 15-member West African regional bloc.
The US has previously sent third-country deportees to African states including Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Eswatini.
The move has been criticised by legal experts and rights groups over the legal basis for the transfers and the treatment of deportees sent to countries where they are not nationals.
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