Only 15 out of 20 migrants who were deported from the United States and sent to Liberia last week disembarked, according to government sources in the west African country, which has agreed to accept a large number of deportees.
Liberia is the latest African nation to take in migrants the United States cannot legally send home, who are being deported under President Donald Trump’s contested immigration crackdown. A week ago, the impoverished west African country said it would receive up to 1,200 foreign nationals deported from the United States, with a first group of 20 slated to land last Thursday.
However, a Liberian government source confirmed to AFP Monday that five passengers refused to disembark from the plane.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Liberian Information Minister Jerolinmek Matthew Piah said only that the five “were not given to us; we are not the ones to explain what happened to them”. The five were ultimately sent to Equatorial Guinea, according to US media. Liberia said last week the deportees would be “free to depart the country when they so desire” or apply for asylum. Piah said Tuesday that the government of Liberia “will not spend a dime on anything related to the 1,200 persons who are to come” and that “that is being taken care of by the United States government”.
