Liberia to accept up to 1,200 US third-country deportees

Liberia has agreed to receive up to 1,200 third-country deportees transferred from the United States under an arrangement reached in 2025, Liberian officials said.

Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah told reporters in Monrovia on Tuesday that an initial group of 20 people is expected to arrive on Thursday. He said the government would receive those arriving as “guests of the Republic,” adding they would “remain free to depart the country when they so desire.”

Liberian officials outline who may be transferred

Piah said the people sent to Liberia are Piah said the people sent to Liberia are expected to include foreign nationals from Africa, North and South America, and the Caribbean. Officials did not provide further details on how arrivals would be supported after entry, or what documentation and processing steps would apply. Liberian officials said the agreement was concluded in 2025 and later became public in March 2026. The government has described the incoming group using the “guests of the Republic” phrasing, according to Piah’s remarks in Monrovia. US third-country transfers and the scale cited by rights groups Officials and rights groups tracking the policy said the Liberian arrangement sits within a broader US effort to transfer some migrants to countries where they are not citizens. Refugees International and Human Rights First said Liberia’s commitment is the largest known pledge by any country to receive third-country deportees under President Trump’s current immigration policy.

They also reported that The same organizations said the US administration has reached similar arrangements with at least 35 countries. They also reported that, as of early August 2026, the United States had transferred about 22,000 people to 26 countries that were not their countries of origin.

Legal challenges and a case cited by advocates

Refugees International and Human Rights First said the size of the program has become a central issue in legal challenges in US courts. They said multiple lawsuits are contesting the legality of third-country deportations.

One case highlighted by the organizations involves Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an El Salvador native. The groups said his situation has drawn attention in litigation over whether the United States can send him to Liberia.

Incentives referenced in reporting on the agreement

The rights groups associated the Liberian agreement with diplomatic incentives they cited, including a $124 million US commitment to Liberia’s health services. They also pointed to an earlier extension of certain visas for Liberians from 12 to 36 months.

What remains unclear, the groups said, is how US courts will decide the pending cases and whether rulings could restrict or slow future transfers carried out under agreements of this kind.