Africa-Press. Sierra Leone has received its first batch of migrants deported from the United States as part of a new agreement with Washington to accept hundreds of deportees from West African countries annually.
A plane carrying nine migrants from countries including Ghana, Senegal, Guinea, and Nigeria arrived in the capital, Freetown, marking the first operation of its kind.
The Sierra Leonean foreign minister, Timothy Kaba, stated that the country has agreed to accept up to 300 migrants from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) annually, with a maximum of 25 individuals per month, under a “third country agreement” with the United States.
Officials noted that the deportees will temporarily stay in hotels near the airport under the supervision of a private company contracted by local authorities. This agreement is part of the policy of the U.S. administration to expedite the deportation of migrants by establishing arrangements with African countries to accept deportees who do not hold their nationality.
Washington has made similar arrangements with other African countries, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Eswatini, which has drawn criticism from human rights organizations and legal experts regarding the conditions of the deportees and the legal basis for these operations.
The agreement raises concerns about the possibility of some deportees being returned to their home countries despite having received legal protection in the United States, according to previous human rights reports.
