A member of the intelligence service holds the files of immigrants deported from the United States
Afrasianet - The United States on Thursday carried out the first deportations under an agreement that allows Liberia to take in up to 1,200 non-citizens, in one of the largest efforts to date by President Donald Trump's administration to deport people to countries other than their own.
The 20 deportees arrived at Roberts International Airport in Harbil, about 56 kilometers (56 kilometers) from the capital, Monrovia.
According to Liberian Information Minister Gerolinmike Biah, the deportees will include African nationals, as well as nationals from North and South America and the Caribbean.
Liberian Justice Minister Nato Oswald Toye said those deportees could seek asylum in Liberia if they wished.
The State Department declined to answer questions about Liberia's agreement on the deportation of migrants, but stressed that implementing the Trump administration's immigration policies is a "top priority."
It comes after the US Department of Homeland Security also declined to confirm the deportations that took place yesterday for "security reasons" and referred any further inquiries to the State Department.
Deportation agreements to third countries are often shrouded in secrecy, and migrants have been deported to countries they have never visited or where they face security risks, leaving them with no choice but to return to their countries of origin from which they fled.
This process has opened up many questions surrounding Trump's policy of deporting refugees to several countries, including African countries.
Agreements with 35 countries
The Trump administration has agreements with at least 35 countries to deport people from other countries, including Liberia and 13 African countries, according to the Third Countries Deportation Observatory, a partnership between Refugees International and Human Rights First that relies on requests for access to public records, news reports and other sources.
The US State Department had previously announced that Liberia had agreed to take in deportees who were not its citizens. But a six-page agreement, signed in September 2025 and posted on its website, does not specify how many migrants or countries they will come from.
In October 2025, Liberia offered to take in Kilmar Abrego García from El Salvador, who was mistakenly deported to a prison in El Salvador. After preventing him from returning home, the Trump administration pledged to deport him to a third country, including Liberia.
Abrego García has agreed to be deported to Costa Rica, which has so far refused to send him there, and Abrego García is fighting a legal battle against his deportation to Liberia in a federal lawsuit in Maryland.
Trump presses African leaders to accept migrants deported from other countries
In this context, informed sources revealed that US President Donald Trump presented to 5 African presidents a plan to accept immigrants from third countries who were deported from the United States, in a move that raised questions about the legal and humanitarian dimensions of this proposal.
The offer came during a meeting with the leaders of Liberia, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania and Gabon at the White House, where immigration and economic cooperation were discussed, according to Reuters, citing U.S. and Liberian officials who declined to be identified.
According to the sources, the US administration is seeking to speed up deportation processes, especially in cases where it faces difficulties in returning migrants to their countries of origin, which prompts it to look for alternative countries to receive them.
In a controversial precedent, eight migrants from countries including Cuba, Laos and Sudan have arrived in South Sudan's capital Juba after losing a legal battle to prevent their deportation, raising human rights concerns about their safety in a country plagued by security turmoil.
Although the Liberian government has begun preparations to receive some of the deportees in the capital, Monrovia, the position of the rest of the countries remains unclear, amid the absence of any official comment from the White House or the governments concerned.
The U.S. State Department has reportedly sent an internal document to the five African countries asking them to agree to receive migrants in a "safe and dignified" manner and not to return them to their countries of origin until a final decision is made on their asylum claims in the United States.
In a public statement during the meeting, Trump said he sought to shift the relationship with Africa from "aid to trade," calling the United States a "better partner than China," and hoping to reduce visa override rates and make progress on "safe third country agreements."
Deportees of several nationalities arrive in South Sudan from the United States
E1a Migrants from the United States arrived in South Sudan's capital Juba on Saturday, airport officials said.
Reuters quoted sources at Juba airport as saying the migrants detained by the United States at a Djiboutian military base had arrived in South Sudan.
Earlier, a South Sudanese government source said U.S. officials were at the airport waiting for the migrants to arrive.
This comes after eight migrants failed in their latest attempt to stop their deportation by US President Donald Trump's administration.
The U.S. Supreme Court has once again sided with the Trump administration in a legal battle over deporting migrants to countries other than their countries of origin.
The court lifted restrictions imposed by a judge to protect eight men the government had sought to send to politically unstable South Sudan.
According to news reports, the eight migrants deported by the United States to South Sudan have multiple nationalities, from Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Vietnam and South Sudan.
The other two have not yet been publicly identified in official statements or in news agency coverage.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of homeland security, called the decision "a victory for the rule of law and the safety and security of the American people."
In March, the US administration issued guidance stating that if a third country provided credible diplomatic assurances that it would not persecute or torture migrants, individuals could be deported there "without the need for further action".
The Justice Department said in a statement that the United States had received credible diplomatic assurances from South Sudan that the migrants in question would not be tortured.
This is how the process of deporting immigrants from the United States is done
The Wall Street Journal reviews the details of the deportation process from the moment of arrest to the implementation of the deportation order, noting that the administration of US President Donald Trump has accelerated the pace of deportation using a war emergency law.
According to the report, arrests have increased compared to the administration of former President Joe Biden, while actual deportations have remained relatively slower.
1. Who are detained?
According to the report, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has begun arresting migrants who have not yet been brought before immigration court, unlike what happened in the past, when arrests were limited to those against whom deportation orders were issued.
The agency relies on an "administrative warrant" to conduct the arrest, and it does not authorize it to search homes, so the resident is not legally obligated to respond or open the door to immigration agents.
2. How do arrests occur?
Mass arrests are often carried out in places known to be gathering of immigrants, including residential neighborhoods and workplaces, raising concerns about racial discrimination and the mistakenly targeting of U.S. citizens, according to lawyers.
The agency relies on the cooperation of local and federal law enforcement agencies and the National Guard, while "safe haven" cities refuse to cooperate with them in carrying out arrests, according to the report.
3. Detention and Beyond
The detainees are transferred to one of the agency's nearly 90 centers, according to the report, where legal proceedings begin that lead to either immediate deportation or a lengthy judicial process that could last for years.
Fast migration
Migrants who cannot prove their presence in the United States for more than two years can be deported immediately and without a hearing.
Trump expanded the use of the measure, which previously only applied to those who entered the country illegally within two weeks of their arrest and within 100 miles of the border.
Legal Procedures
Migrants who are not covered by speedy deportation are subject to lengthy legal proceedings before immigration courts.
He said a new law had expanded the list of offences that prevented bail from being released to include minor offences such as shoplifting.
Asylum Claim
Migrants, whether under expedited deportation or regular procedures, have the right to seek asylum if they fear persecution or torture in their home countries, the report said.
He noted that filing an asylum application opens a parallel legal case that could give the migrant temporary legal protection, and possibly a chance to stay in the country if the case is proven.
Voluntary departure
According to the report, an immigrant can choose to leave the United States voluntarily at any stage of the procedure.
He pointed out that this decision does not exempt from sanctions and is registered as an official deportation, which prevents a person from re-entering the United States with a visa for at least 5 years.
4. The Court
The first hearing before the immigration court will be to verify the identity and address of the migrant and determine whether he needs to hire a lawyer, noting that the government does not provide legal representation for migrants.
He indicated that the judge will hold a subsequent session known as the "substantive" session, where evidence and testimonies will be presented, and the judge will decide whether to deport the migrant or grant him the right to remain based on the data.
If a deportation order is issued, the migrant has the right to appeal the decision to the Justice Department or the Federal Court, leading to a suspension of deportation, the report said, although the detainee often remains in custody during the appeal period.
Those whose status has changed legally, such as marrying a U.S. citizen, can request a reopening of their files, opening up a new opportunity for them to obtain legal residency.
5. Perform the migration
The report confirmed that the deportation decision is not implemented immediately after the decision is issued, as the agency regulates travel arrangements, and if the migrant does not have a passport of the country concerned, he must obtain it from the embassy concerned.
If the country in question refuses to receive the deported migrants, the US authorities must look for an alternative country, which could delay implementation for more than six months, he said.
The report was prepared by reporters Michelle Hackman and Alyssa Lokbat, chart editor Jason French and chart reporter Adrienne Tong.
Libya before receiving immigrants !! The plan is in place
Earlier this week, officials in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump announced that they were preparing to send irregular migrants on a U.S. military plane to Libya, while Libyan authorities denied the allegations.
Although a US judge blocked Trump's plan, the left-leaning American magazine The Nation says only a fool thinks the threat of deportation is over.
Who are these irregular migrants who will be deported?
Categorical Libyan denial
Although the U.S. government has not disclosed the identity of those who will be deported, immigration lawyers have been quoted as saying that the irregular migrants informed of the decision to send them to Libya are from Vietnam, Laos and the Philippines, as well as other countries.
However, it soon became clear, according to Abramsky, that no Libyan authority had approved, even remotely, to the U.S. deportation plan.
Both governments — the internationally recognized Tripoli in the west and the one led in the east by retired General Khalifa Haftar — have denied struck a deal with the United States to house deported migrants.
If these allegations are confirmed, the United States will be the first country to send migrants to Libya, and the European Union has been coordinating with several countries to prevent irregular migrants from sub-Saharan Africa from crossing the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe.
Ironically, while Washington is now planning to deport irregular migrants to Libya, its State Department has been critical of prison conditions there.
There is no legitimate reason for the Trump administration to send irregular migrants to Libya, adding that legal experts believe that this constitutes a violation of international human rights treaties and the Convention on the Status of Refugees.
Vivorin Policy: The Great Migration in 2025
A decade ago, says Edward Alden, a visiting professor at Western Washington University, the U.S. Congress was about to pass a bill that would legalize the residency of 11 million irregular immigrants in the United States and put them on the path to citizenship.
But after Donald Trump returns to the White House again, Alden asserts that the president-elect, once inaugurated as president on Jan. 20, will launch the largest mass deportation in the country's history. And this is what happened.
In doing so, he will reframe immigration differently for a generation to come or more, "not just in the United States, but in most parts of the world."
Those born outside the United States made up less than 5% of the country's population in 1970 and are now about 15%, and in Britain that share has risen from just over 6% in the same period to over 16%.
In a statistic cited by Alden, who is also a researcher at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington and a columnist for Foreign Policy magazine, the proportion of people born outside the United States has risen from less than 5 percent of the country's population in 1970 to nearly 15 percent today, and in Britain that share has increased from just over 6 percent to just over 16 percent.
According to the article, most Western countries have discovered that immigration is economically beneficial, bringing in talent and helping to fill labor shortages in areas ranging from agriculture to health care.
Horrified by the refusal of most countries to accept European Jews fleeing Nazi persecution before and during World War II , Western countries have adopted "lenient" asylum laws that require them to accept many fleeing persecution, torture or death threats around the world.
The fading spirit of tolerance
But in the current century, that spirit of tolerance has faded. In its first decade, Congress tried several times to pass legislation to legalize long-standing irregular immigrants in the United States, as it did under President Ronald Reagan's administration in 1986. The most recent effort failed in the House in 2014, despite the support of more than two-thirds of senators, including 14 Republicans.
Over the past decade, the United States and Europe have faced a series of migration crises with displaced people arriving at their borders in greater numbers than governments can absorb them, or the population can accept them.
As the number of migrants fleeing conflict, violence or economic collapse has increased, with the number of displaced people worldwide doubling over the past decade to nearly 120 million today, migration has become "politically connotating" around the world .
Caution
In Europe, Alden argues, populist parties working on anti-immigrant programs have made sweeping gains, and even countries that have historically welcomed large numbers of migrants, such as Canada and Australia, have become more cautious and have begun to reduce quotas for immigration.
Trump is back in office, with a semblance of a mandate to evacuate irregular migrants from the country, including millions who have been residents for decades, and millions more who have entered the United States in the past four years and enjoy temporary legal status under President Biden's "more tolerant" plans.
Although immigration has been a big issue in the election campaign, polls suggest it has lagged behind the economy, ranking second to health care, national security, the Supreme Court, and the future of democracy.
In his article, the professor also stated that a Pew Research Center poll in September showed that nearly 9 in 10 Trump supporters, and 56 percent of registered voters overall, said they supported the mass deportation of immigrants living in the country "illegally," suggesting strong support for Trump's agenda.
But 58 percent of respondents also support allowing irregular immigrants to stay in the country if they are married to an American. A much higher majority, including half of Trump's supporters or more, wants to accept more refugees, foreign college graduates and immigrants who can fill the labor shortage.
If the U.S. proceeds to deport migrants en masse, populist governments in other parts of the world are expected to dare to take tougher measures as well.
Alden believes the new administration's actions will be a test of which of these priorities Americans will actually support. Many of the wealthy who support Trump rely on foreign workers, such as irregular migrants, and are likely to resist the authorities' resumption of workplace raids.
Although the United States has long been a "role model" in embracing migrants, with more than one-fifth of the world's migrants living in the United States, mass deportations would send a "more egregious message," Alden said.
________________
