US sends 20 deportees to Liberia, part of 1,200 migrants the country will receive under new deal

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HARBEL, Liberia (AP) — The United States sent 20 deportees to Liberia, who arrived on Thursday as part of 1,200 migrants that the African country will receive under a new deal.

The deportees arrived at the Roberts International Airport outside Monrovia. The Liberia-U.S. agreement is among the largest third-country deportations driven by the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.

The 1,200 deportees will include African nationals and also nationals from North America, South America and the Caribbean, according to Liberian Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah.

During a briefing on Tuesday, Liberian Justice Minister Natu Oswald Tweh said that the majority of the deportees had committed migration-related violations and offenses, and that they could seek asylum in the West African country if they wished.

Under a series of often-secret agreements, the Trump administration has deported thousands of people to nearly two dozen countries that aren't their own, advocates say, with about 10 of them in Africa.

Immigration lawyers have said the Trump administration uses deportations to third countries as a legal loophole to indirectly force asylum-seekers back to their home countries.

In many cases, migrants are deported to countries they’ve never been to or where they face safety risks and are left with little choice other than to return to the home countries they were fleeing from.