Liberia Agrees to Take Up to 1,200 Third-Country Deportees From the U.S., With the First 20 Due Thursday

Liberian authorities said on Tuesday that the country had agreed to accept up to 1,200 third-country deportees from the United States over the next year, in one of the largest such arrangements under the administration's deportation program. Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah said the first group of 20 was expected Thursday and that the 1,200 would include Africans as well as nationals of North America, South America and the Caribbean. Justice Minister Natu Oswald Tweh said Liberia had screened the list in advance and that "most of them are people who had immigration violations and offenses." Piah said Liberia would receive U.S. support to manage the program.

Third-country removal agreements can involve migrants whom a U.S. immigration judge has ordered not be returned to their home countries. Immigration lawyers say the practice can indirectly push asylum seekers back toward the countries they fled.

Piah said the deportees "may wish to seek asylum" in Liberia or "can leave the country whenever they desire," and called the arrangement humanitarian. He did not say whether any of those expected hold protection orders. The administration has deported people to nearly two dozen third countries, about 10 of them in Africa.