Trump’s Deportation Map Expands To Country With Ironic American History

Liberia has reached a historic agreement to accept deportees from the United States who are not citizens of the country.

The West African nation, founded by freed slaves from the United States, will take in up to 1,200 third-country nationals deported through the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign, according to the Associated Press. Liberian Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah told reporters that the first group of 20 deportees is expected to arrive Thursday.

The Trump administration plans to send illegal immigrants from Africa, the Caribbean, South America, and North America to Liberia, the AP reported.

Liberia is not the first country to accept citizens of other nations from the United States since President Donald Trump began his effort to ramp up deportations.

The Trump administration has made similar agreements with other foreign governments to deport third-country nationals by offering funding, easing visa restrictions, and relief from tariffs, according to The New York Times. The list of cooperating countries includes the Dominican Republic, Eswatini, Cameroon, and South Sudan.

Liberia’s Justice Minister Natu Oswald Tweh said officials have vetted the list of deportees before their arrival and that “most of them are people who had immigration violations and offenses,” the AP reported.

The United States will provide aid to Liberia to help the country receive the deportees and improve its own immigration system, according to the AP.

“Liberia’s gesture is entirely humanitarian and in keeping with the country’s longstanding traditions,” Piah said. “The government of Liberia intends to provide the transferred persons with the necessary support to seek protection in Liberia and to be safe during their stay here.”

The Trump administration has sought to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the alleged MS-13 gang member, to Liberia. Abrego Garcia was deported in error to his native El Salvador before the Trump administration brought him back to the United States on human smuggling charges.

Abrego Garcia, who is fighting a second deportation effort, has indicated he is unwilling to go to Liberia and has asked to be removed to Costa Rica, which has agreed to accept him.

This week, the Justice Department filed a request to appeal a federal judge’s dismissal of the human smuggling charges. The judge previously ruled that federal prosecutors’ motivation in the case was “vindictive.”