Done By Patrick Tarawally
Sierra Leone is set to receive its first flight carrying West African migrants deported from the United States today, Wednesday, May 20, as confirmed by Foreign Minister Timothy Kabba. The flight will transport 25 nationals from Senegal, Ghana, Guinea, and Nigeria, marking a significant development in the country’s evolving immigration arrangement with Washington.
The move is grounded in a “Third Country National Agreement” signed between Sierra Leone and the United States, under which Freetown has agreed to accept up to 300 ECOWAS nationals per year, capped at 25 per month. The deal forms part of the Trump administration’s broader push to accelerate deportations, a policy that has previously seen third-country deportees sent to Ghana, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Eswatini. Minister Kabba declined to disclose what Sierra Leone stands to gain from the arrangement, describing it only as part of the bilateral relationship with the U.S.
Questions remain over the ultimate fate of the deportees, as it is still unclear whether they will be permitted to remain in Sierra Leone. The agreement has drawn scrutiny from legal experts and human rights groups, who have raised concerns about individuals being sent to countries where they hold no citizenship and in some cases, being forcibly returned to their home nations despite holding court-ordered protections in the United States. A U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee report from February noted that over $32 million had been paid directly to five countries participating in similar deportation arrangements.
