The West African nation of Liberia on Thursday received the first group of deportees from “third countries” from the United States, including immigrants from Latin America, U.S. officials told CBS News. About 20 deportees from different countries landed in Liberia after being deported from the U.S. However, a U.S. official told CBS News that after the plane carrying the deportees arrived in Liberia, a small group of them resisted and refused to disembark. They were escorted off the plane but later returned to it, the official said. His whereabouts are unknown. The Eastern Airline plane carrying deported immigrants from American taxis at Roberts International Airport in Harbel, outside Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, on August 20, 2026. Matthew Jacobs /AFP via Getty Images Liberia is the latest country to accept deportees who are not its citizens as part of President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration and an aggressive White House effort to deport immigrants to so-called third countries with the that have no links. up to 1,200 deported from the United States to third countries over the next year, and that new arrivals will be allowed to apply for asylum there. Liberia is also where the Trump administration has said it is trying to deport Kilmar Abrego García, the man who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador last year and later returned to the United States to be prosecuted on human trafficking charges. That effort has been blocked for now by a federal judge in Maryland. The Trump administration has negotiated third-country deportation agreements with dozens of nations around the world, including African countries plagued by armed conflict, political unrest and human rights abuses, including South Sudan, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. U.S. immigration officials have also sent regular deportation flights to Ghana, Equatorial Guinea and other African countries that have agreed to receive deportees from other nations. Human rights activists have denounced deportations to third countries as inhumane and illegal under international law, saying some countries are returning deportees to places they fled due to persecution. But the Trump administration has defended the legality and merits of deportations, presenting them as an effective way to deter illegal immigration. For the most part, the administration’s deportation effort to third countries has focused on immigrants whose home countries limit or reject U.S. deportations or who have obtained legal protection from being sent back to their home countries. In:
