Sierra Leone receives first West African deportees from US

The first flight carrying nine West African migrants expelled under President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown arrived in Sierra Leone on Wednesday, making it the latest African country to accept deportees from the United States.

The arrivals at Freetown’s airport included five individuals from Ghana, two from Guinea, one from Senegal and one from Nigeria, according to a statement from Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.

All deportees were “traumatised due to the months in chains during detention in the US,” said Doris Bah, a health ministry official at the scene, adding that most wanted to return to their home countries.

“Some of the deportees were arrested on the streets and their place of work, while another was arrested while playing football in the US,” Bah said.

They will be housed in a hotel and are expected to return to their countries within two weeks at the latest, she added.

Foreign Minister Timothy Musa Kabba told media on Wednesday that the government has agreed to receive migrants for about 90 days before their onward journey, supported by a $1.5 million US grant “to cover the humanitarian and operational costs linked to this agreement.”

The US has struck similar third-country deportation deals with at least eight other African nations, many among those hardest hit by Trump administration policies restricting trade, aid and migration.

The other African nations known to have signed such deals are Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, South Sudan, Rwanda, Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana and Cameroon.

Freetown has not disclosed whether additional concessions were agreed upon.

Human Rights Watch, urging African nations to reject the arrangements, argued in September that the “opaque deals” were “part of a US policy approach that violated international human rights law.”