deportees sent to countries where they are not nationals
In a quiet but consequential agreement, Sierra Leone has consented to receive West African migrants expelled from the United States — people who are not Sierra Leonean, bound for a country not their own. The arrangement, one of several the current American administration has forged across the African continent, raises enduring questions about sovereignty, legal protection, and what it means to belong nowhere that a powerful nation will accept. As the first flight approaches on May 20, the fate of 25 individuals from Senegal, Ghana, Guinea, and Nigeria hangs on a question no government has yet answered: will Sierra Leone be a place of refuge, or simply another door through which they will be pushed further along?
- Twenty-five West African migrants — nationals of Senegal, Ghana, Guinea, and Nigeria — are set to land in Sierra Leone on May 20, a country to which none of them belong, under a deal their own governments did not negotiate.
- The United States has quietly spent over $32 million constructing a network of third-country removal agreements across Africa, a system rights groups say lacks clear legal grounding and strips deportees of court-ordered protections.
- Previous recipients of such arrangements — Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, and others — ultimately forced deportees onward to their home countries, the very destinations American courts had ruled they could not safely be sent.
- Sierra Leone's government has offered no clarity on whether arriving deportees will be permitted to remain, leaving hundreds of people suspended between legal limbo and an uncertain geography of belonging.
- The deal echoes a 2017 standoff in which the US threatened to deny visas to Sierra Leonean officials until the country complied with American deportation demands — a pressure campaign that has now culminated in this formal capitulation.
Sierra Leone has agreed to accept up to 300 West African migrants deported from the United States each year — no more than 25 per month — under a newly formalized Third Country National Agreement. The first flight arrives May 20, carrying individuals from Senegal, Ghana, Guinea, and Nigeria. None of them are Sierra Leonean citizens.
Foreign Minister Timothy Kabba announced the deal to Reuters, describing it as part of the bilateral relationship between the two nations, though he offered no detail on what Sierra Leone would receive in exchange for absorbing migrants it had no hand in displacing. The agreement mirrors arrangements the Trump administration has struck with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and Eswatini — part of a broader, costly infrastructure of third-country removals that a Senate Foreign Relations Committee report placed at over $32 million paid directly to five nations.
The human stakes of these arrangements have already been tested. Deportees sent to Ghana and Equatorial Guinea under similar deals were subsequently forced to return to their home countries — even when US courts had issued orders specifically protecting them from such removal. Whether those arriving in Sierra Leone will be permitted to stay or will face the same onward displacement remains unanswered. The government has not responded to requests for comment.
The history between the two countries adds texture to the agreement. In 2017, the US Embassy in Freetown threatened to withhold visas from Sierra Leonean officials in retaliation for the government's refusal to accept its own deported nationals. That coercion eventually gave way to negotiation — and now, to this. The State Department has not commented on the new arrangement. What is clear is that on May 20, twenty-five people will arrive in a country that is not theirs, waiting to learn whether it will hold them or pass them along.
Sierra Leone has signed on to receive West African migrants being deported from the United States—up to 300 per year, in batches of no more than 25 per month. The first plane lands on May 20, carrying 25 people from Senegal, Ghana, Guinea, and Nigeria. This is the latest in a series of agreements the Trump administration has struck with African nations to accelerate the removal of migrants who have no legal status in America.
The arrangement, formalized as a Third Country National Agreement, commits Sierra Leone to accepting citizens of ECOWAS—the Economic Community of West African States—who are being deported by the U.S. Foreign Minister Timothy Kabba announced the deal to Reuters, framing it as part of the bilateral relationship between the two countries. He did not specify what Sierra Leone would receive in return for taking in these deportees, only that it was meant to assist with American immigration policy.
This is not the first time the U.S. has turned to African nations to absorb deportees who are not their own citizens. The practice has expanded under the current administration. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and Eswatini have all accepted third-country deportees in recent years. A February report from Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee found that more than $32 million had been sent directly to five countries—Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, El Salvador, Eswatini, and Palau—to support these removal operations, though the total cost remains unclear.
The legal and ethical foundation of these transfers has drawn sharp criticism from human rights organizations and legal experts. The concern is not merely theoretical. Deportees sent to Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, and other African nations under similar arrangements have subsequently been forced to return to their home countries, even when they held court-ordered protection in the United States specifically designed to prevent such removal. It remains unclear whether those sent to Sierra Leone will be permitted to stay or will face the same fate.
Sierra Leone's government has not yet clarified what will happen to the incoming deportees. A government spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment. The arrangement does mirror Ghana's own agreement, which also limits third-country deportations to ECOWAS nationals—a narrower scope than some other African nations have accepted.
The two countries have clashed over deportations before. In 2017, during the first Trump administration, the U.S. Embassy in Freetown threatened to deny tourist and business visas to Sierra Leonean foreign ministry and immigration officials because the government was refusing to accept Sierra Leonean nationals being deported from America. That pressure eventually gave way to negotiation and, now, to this new agreement.
The State Department and White House have maintained that these deportations are lawful. Neither has yet commented on the Sierra Leone arrangement. What remains unresolved is whether the migrants arriving on May 20 will find themselves in a country of refuge or merely a waystation on a longer journey home.
Notable Quotes
It's part of our bilateral relationship with the U.S. to assist with its immigration policy— Timothy Kabba, Sierra Leone's Foreign Minister
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why would Sierra Leone agree to take in people who aren't even their own citizens?
The government frames it as part of their bilateral relationship with the U.S., but the real answer is probably leverage. The U.S. has used visa denial and other diplomatic pressure before. Money may be involved too, though they won't say how much.
So these people have been deported from America. What's their status when they land in Sierra Leone?
That's the question nobody's answering. Some of them may have had legal protections in the U.S.—court orders that were supposed to keep them safe. But once they're in a third country, those protections don't follow them. History shows they often get sent home anyway.
Has this happened before?
Yes. Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, and others have taken in third-country deportees, and many of them ended up being forced back to their home countries despite having U.S. court protection. It's a legal gray area that critics say exploits both the migrants and the receiving countries.
What does the U.S. get out of this?
Faster removals. The administration wants to accelerate deportations, and these agreements let them send people somewhere—anywhere—without having to process them through the normal system. They've spent over $32 million on these programs across five countries.
And Sierra Leone?
That's unclear. They say it's about the relationship. But the history suggests there's pressure involved—the kind that comes with visa denials and diplomatic friction.