Liberia has begun receiving people deported from the United States under a Trump administration agreement that will mostly transfer Venezuelan, Cuban and other Latin American nationals to the West African country.
The first group of 20 deportees arrived at Roberts International Airport outside Monrovia on Thursday.
Liberia has agreed to accept as many as 1,200 people over the next 12 months, making the arrangement one of the largest third-country deportation programmes secured by President Donald Trump’s administration in Africa.
Liberian Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah told Reuters that most of those transferred would come from Latin America. He identified Venezuela, Cuba and Colombia among the countries expected to account for the deportees.
The United States will provide Liberia with $5 million to manage the programme and strengthen its migration system.
