First U.S. Deportation Flight Lands in Liberia Under Third-Country Removal Pact

A charter flight from Louisiana touched down at Roberts International Airport outside Monrovia at 12:45 p.m. local time Thursday, delivering the first group of foreign nationals removed by the United States under a third-country deportation arrangement with Liberia.

Liberian Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah told Reuters the 20 arrivals were primarily from Venezuela, Cuba, and Colombia. The aircraft had completed a scheduled stop in Senegal before landing.

Immigration judges in the United States had found that returning these individuals directly to their countries of origin would expose them to risks of torture or severe mistreatment. Liberia agreed to process protection requests rather than deport them to environments where verified threats exist.

The transferees are classified as non-criminals and face no prosecution under United States or Liberian statutes, according to an official Liberian release. They will reside in the country as guests while their legal status is reviewed.

The International Organization for Migration and the U.N. refugee agency are scheduled to supply support services during their stay. While in Liberia, the migrants may seek formal asylum locally or voluntarily leave the country.

Liberia has agreed to accept as many as 1,200 foreign nationals over 12 months under the bilateral framework, positioning Monrovia as one of Washington’s primary relocation partners on the continent. The United States allocated $5 million to the Liberian government this year for migration management, though Liberian officials maintain they did not seek direct compensation for accepting the flights.

Similar diplomatic understandings have been established with the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Ghana, and Sierra Leone as part of a broader expansion of U.S. removal agreements across Africa.