The first group of American deportees was due to arrive in Liberia on Thursday, amid growing backlash there, and critics say the Liberian government’s deal with the Trump administration to accept 1,200 deportees is too large and too opaque. The agreement with Liberia, in West Africa, is one of the largest reached by the Trump administration for so-called deportations to third countries, which means that deportees are not sent to their countries of origin. Most of the countries that signed such agreements are in Africa, including Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana and South Sudan, among others. According to the Liberian government, twenty deportees would arrive this week in the capital of Liberia, Monrovia. It is unclear whether any of them have criminal records in the United States. But the deal has raised questions among Liberians about a lack of transparency. “The issue of deportations is raising many concerns that cannot be left unanswered,” said Adama Dempster, a lawyer and human rights activist in Liberia. “Under what conditions will they be held? And how will Liberia benefit?” said. “We Liberians are hospitable people, we love strangers. But the government should explain this.” Initially, deportees will be held in a government facility and allowed to seek asylum in Liberia or return to their home countries, said Jerolinmek Matthew Piah, Liberia’s information minister. “They are being welcomed as guests,” he said in a statement. He highlighted Liberia’s history of hosting refugees and migrants, often deported to countries with which they have no ties, as an explanation for the agreement. The Liberian government has said it did not demand or receive any compensation as part of the deportation agreement with the Trump administration. Dempster said this was hard to believe, considering the economic challenges in a country where more than half of the six million people live in poverty. “What is more worrying is that the United States is sending 1,200, a high number. Liberia has a struggling economy and unemployment is high, what conditions will be put in place to help?” Thirty countries have made third-country deportation deals with the Trump administration, according to Human Rights First, a nonprofit group that tracks deportations. For several months, the administration pushed to send Kilmar Abrego García, a Salvadoran immigrant whose deportation case has become a symbol of the president’s crackdown on illegal immigration, to Liberia. Abrego García spent months in a notorious prison built for terrorists after being deported to El Salvador last year. He was later returned to the United States, where he faced human trafficking charges that were later dismissed by a federal judge in Nashville as abuse of prosecutorial powers. American and Liberian officials have not said whether Mr. Abrego García was among the deportees sent to Liberia on Thursday. No information about the deportees’ backgrounds has been made public, fueling anxiety in Liberia, where crime centered on drug trafficking has skyrocketed in recent years. Thanks to law enforcement crackdowns, officials have seized hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cocaine. “It’s risky for us,” said Yarssah Jallah, a 35-year-old food vendor in Monrovia. “We already have the drug problem here. We don’t know who is who.” On Wednesday, a former vice president, Jewel Taylor, was charged with drug trafficking and money laundering. She is the ex-wife of Charles Taylor, former Liberian president and convicted war criminal. Piah, the information minister, said those deported were not “criminals” and “were not being prosecuted in any way under the laws of the United States or Liberia.” But his denials have been met with skepticism among human rights groups who say his statement does not adequately address whether the deportees had criminal records or were awaiting trial. The deal with the Trump administration has also raised questions about whether diplomatic pressure was applied to Liberia, a country with deep ties to the United States. Liberia’s history has its roots in the American “Back to Africa” movement and the American Colonization Society, a group formed in 1816 by philanthropists, abolitionists, and some slave owners. The group helped resettle free black Americans in what would become Liberia. When Liberia became independent, its constitution and flag were modeled on those of the United States. English is the official language of the country. Last year, Joseph Boakai, president of Liberia, was one of five African leaders who met with President Trump at the White House. The meeting caused a stir when Trump complimented Boakai on his English and asked: “Where did you learn to speak so beautifully?” asked Clara Mallah, program officer at the Liberia Center for Transparency and Accountability, a civil society group based in the capital. “Why can’t the United States hold them? Why Liberia?” Tina Mehnpaine and Dounard Bondo contributed reporting from Monrovia.
