By Sabiu Abdullahi
Sierra Leone has agreed to receive hundreds of West African migrants deported from the United States as President Donald Trump’s administration steps up actions against undocumented migrants.
According to Reuters, the first batch of deportees is expected to arrive in Sierra Leone on May 20. The group will reportedly include 25 citizens from Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana and Guinea.
Sierra Leone’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Timothy Kabba, confirmed the arrangement in an interview with Reuters.
“Sierra Leone signed a Third Country National Agreement with the U.S. to accept 300 ECOWAS citizens from the U.S. per year with a maximum of 25 a month,” Kabba said.
However, the minister did not disclose what Sierra Leone would gain from the agreement. There is also uncertainty over whether the deportees will be permitted to remain in the country after arrival.
The United States reached a similar agreement with Ghana last year. Under that arrangement, only West African nationals could be transferred to the country.
Some deportees sent to Ghana, including four Nigerians, later filed complaints. They accused authorities of unlawful detention and human rights abuses.
In recent years, the US has deported third-country migrants to several African nations, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Eswatini. The policy has attracted criticism from rights groups and legal experts, who questioned the legality of the transfers and raised concerns about the treatment of deportees sent to countries where they are not citizens.
Nigeria was previously approached over the issue. Yusuf Tuggar, who was then Nigeria’s minister of foreign affairs, said the federal government would not accept third-country deportees because of security and economic concerns.
