Liberia agrees to accept 1,200 third-country deportees from US within a year

Liberia announced Tuesday that it will accept up to 1,200 third-country deportees from the U.S. over the next year under an agreement between the two countries.

The agreement marks one of the largest arrangements of its kind under the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown.

Liberia's President Joseph Boakai was one of five West African leaders who traveled to the White House last year to meet with U.S.

President Donald Trump.

As part of the arrangement, the first group of 20 deportees are expected to arrive on Thursday, Liberia’s Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah told reporters.

The 1,200 deportees who will be sent to the country within the next 12 months will include Africans as well as nationals from North America, South America and the Caribbean, Piah said.

TRUMP ADMIN SCORES COURT WIN TO END DEPORTATION PROTECTIONS FOR ETHIOPIAN MIGRANTS Piah said the deportees would be received "as guests," adding that they could leave when they wanted and apply for asylum in Liberia.

He also said Liberia will receive support from the U.S. to manage the program and strengthen its migration system.

But he said the deal was not part of a quid pro quo with the U.S. government and that the African nation was not demanding compensation in exchange for taking in the deportees.

"Liberia’s gesture is entirely humanitarian and in keeping with the country’s longstanding traditions," he 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." Liberia's government referenced its historical ties to the United States, including its roots in a 19th-century settlement established for free and formerly enslaved Black Americans and its history as a country with "a long history of accepting people seeking refuge from political and other crises." Liberia’s Justice Minister Natu Oswald Tweh said that the country has screened the migrants ahead of their arrival.

"Most of them are people who had immigration violations and offenses," he said.

The Liberian government said the arriving deportees are not criminals and are not being prosecuted under U.S. or Liberian law.

Since Trump returned to the White House in January of last year, his administration has reached several deals with African countries to accept third-country deportees, including in some cases migrants who have legal protections barring their return to their countries of origin because of risks of torture, persecution or other abuses.