Sierra Leone has become the latest African country to receive migrants deported from the United States amid Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. A plane carrying nine West African migrants landed at Sierra Leone's international airport, just outside the capital, Freetown, on Wednesday morning.
Last week, Foreign Minister Timothy Musa Kabba told the Reuters news agency his country had agreed to accept up to 300 people a year expelled by the United States. However, he added that the new arrivals must originally come from member states of Ecowas, West Africa's economic bloc.
The US has already sent deportees to several other African countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, and South Sudan. Dozens of migrants have been flown to third countries—nations that the deportees had not lived in prior to arriving in the US—since President Trump took office.
The mass deportation of illegal migrants was a key part of Trump's campaign for re-election. On Wednesday, the BBC witnessed the nine deportees arrive at Sierra Leone's airport via a Boeing charter flight. The group consisted of seven men and two women, all looking forlorn; one deportee even resisted leaving the plane before being physically removed.
Five of the deportees are from Ghana, two from Guinea, and one each from Nigeria and Senegal, officials stated. Under Ecowas agreements, citizens of one member country can stay elsewhere in the bloc for up to 90 days. However, Kenvah Solutions, the private company housing the migrants, mentioned that they would only be allowed to stay at their facilities for two weeks and would then be sent to their home countries.
According to a minority report from the US Senate's committee on foreign relations, the Trump administration is estimated to have spent more than $40 million on third-country deportations by January 2026, though the total cost remains unknown.
The authorities in Sierra Leone have not disclosed what they have received in return for accepting the deportees. Critics warn that deportations to third countries violate international human rights standards and put vulnerable migrants at risk, with Human Rights Watch urging African nations to reject what they described as opaque deals designed to exploit human suffering.
Similar to Sierra Leone, Ghana has also agreed to only accept deportees from Ecowas countries, emphasizing that all West African nationals do not require visas to enter the nation. Individuals deported to countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and Eswatini have often come from far-flung nations, suffering severe repercussions as a result of these policies.
Last week, Foreign Minister Timothy Musa Kabba told the Reuters news agency his country had agreed to accept up to 300 people a year expelled by the United States. However, he added that the new arrivals must originally come from member states of Ecowas, West Africa's economic bloc.
The US has already sent deportees to several other African countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, and South Sudan. Dozens of migrants have been flown to third countries—nations that the deportees had not lived in prior to arriving in the US—since President Trump took office.
The mass deportation of illegal migrants was a key part of Trump's campaign for re-election. On Wednesday, the BBC witnessed the nine deportees arrive at Sierra Leone's airport via a Boeing charter flight. The group consisted of seven men and two women, all looking forlorn; one deportee even resisted leaving the plane before being physically removed.
Five of the deportees are from Ghana, two from Guinea, and one each from Nigeria and Senegal, officials stated. Under Ecowas agreements, citizens of one member country can stay elsewhere in the bloc for up to 90 days. However, Kenvah Solutions, the private company housing the migrants, mentioned that they would only be allowed to stay at their facilities for two weeks and would then be sent to their home countries.
According to a minority report from the US Senate's committee on foreign relations, the Trump administration is estimated to have spent more than $40 million on third-country deportations by January 2026, though the total cost remains unknown.
The authorities in Sierra Leone have not disclosed what they have received in return for accepting the deportees. Critics warn that deportations to third countries violate international human rights standards and put vulnerable migrants at risk, with Human Rights Watch urging African nations to reject what they described as opaque deals designed to exploit human suffering.
Similar to Sierra Leone, Ghana has also agreed to only accept deportees from Ecowas countries, emphasizing that all West African nationals do not require visas to enter the nation. Individuals deported to countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and Eswatini have often come from far-flung nations, suffering severe repercussions as a result of these policies.
