Sierra Leone has received the first group of West African migrants deported from the United States under a new agreement with Washington, as the Trump administration expands third-country removal deals across Africa.
A plane carrying nine deportees arrived in Freetown on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The group included seven men and two women from Ghana, Senegal, Guinea and Nigeria, according to Patrick Robin, head of Kenvah Solutions, a private contractor hired to accommodate the deportees near the airport.
Foreign Minister Timothy Kabba said last week that Sierra Leone had agreed to accept up to 300 West African migrants deported from the United States each year, with no more than 25 arriving in any single month.
The arrangement is part of Washington’s broader push to speed up removals by sending migrants to third countries, even when they are not citizens of those countries.
It remains unclear how long the deportees will be allowed to stay in Sierra Leone. A government spokesperson did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
Robin said the deportees would be housed in two hotels near the airport and cared for “in a dignified and comfortable way” for up to two weeks. In exceptional cases, he said, some could remain in the facilities for up to 30 days.
Sierra Leone’s agreement appears similar to a separate arrangement involving Ghana, which has also accepted West African deportees from the United States.
Reuters has previously reported that some deportees sent to Ghana, Equatorial Guinea and other African countries were later forced to return to their home countries, despite having court-ordered protections in the United States that were meant to prevent such returns.
Robin said most of the deportees who arrived in Sierra Leone on Wednesday had said they wanted to return to their home countries. However, a Reuters witness said at least one person appeared reluctant to leave the aircraft before being persuaded to disembark.
It is not clear what Sierra Leone is receiving in return for accepting the deportees.
A report published in February by Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said the total cost of third-country removals remained unknown, but said more than $32 million had been sent directly to five countries: Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, El Salvador, Eswatini and Palau.
The U.S. State Department declined to comment.
The arrival marks Sierra Leone’s first known intake under the new deal and adds to growing scrutiny over U.S. deportation practices, particularly cases in which migrants are sent to countries where they do not hold citizenship.