The first plane carrying nine migrants from West African countries has arrived from the United States to Sierra Leone, making it the latest African country to receive migrants expelled under President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Wednesday’s 20th May arrivals at the airport near the capital, Freetown, included five people from Ghana, two from Guinea, one from Senegal, and one from Nigeria, according to Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Sierra Leone’s Foreign Minister Timothy Musa Kabba confirmed the arrivals to AFP, saying: “We have received nine deportees this morning from the US.” Police, medics, and government officials were on hand to receive them at the airport.
A health ministry official at the scene, Doris Bah, said all nine deportees were “traumatised due to the months in chains during detention in the US,” adding that most of them wanted to return to their home countries. “Some of the deportees were arrested on the streets and at their place of work, while another was arrested while playing football in the US,” she said.
Foreign Minister Kabba said his government agreed to receive the migrants because they are from West Africa and some hold Sierra Leonean residence permits obtained many years ago. They will be housed in a hotel and have the right to stay in the country for 90 days before returning to their countries of origin.
The United States is providing $1.5 million to Sierra Leone to cover the humanitarian and operational costs linked to the agreement. Freetown has not said whether other concessions were agreed upon.
Sierra Leone is the latest in a growing list of African countries to enter such arrangements with Washington. Other African nations known to have signed similar deals include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, South Sudan, Rwanda, Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana, and Cameroon.
Human rights concerns have been raised over the treatment of deportees, with reports of migrants being held in chains for months during detention in the US before being flown to third countries with which they have no citizenship ties.
Nigeria has previously stated that African countries were under “significant pressure” to receive migrants and that it would not agree to such an arrangement, making the presence of a Nigerian national among those sent to Sierra Leone a development worth noting.
