The United States is expanding its controversial deportation arrangements in Africa, with Sierra Leone agreeing to receive hundreds of West African migrants removed from the U.S. under a new deal between the two countries.
Sierra Leone’s Foreign Minister, Timothy Kabba, told Reuters that the agreement allows the country to accept up to 300 deportees a year from member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), with a maximum of 25 arrivals each month.
The first group is expected to arrive in Freetown on May 20 and will include migrants from Senegal, Ghana, Guinea and Nigeria, according to Kabba.
“Sierra Leone signed a Third Country National Agreement with the U.S. to accept 300 ECOWAS citizens from the U.S. per year with a maximum of 25 a month,” Kabba said.
The arrangement marks the latest effort by the administration of Donald Trump to speed up deportations by sending migrants to countries where they are not citizens.
