By Umaru Fofana and Robbie Corey-Boulet
FREETOWN, May 16 (Reuters) - Sierra Leone has agreed to take in hundreds of West African migrants who are being deported by the United States, its foreign minister told Reuters, the latest such deal by the Trump administration as it tries to accelerate removals.
The first flight of so-called third-country deportees will arrive in Sierra Leone on May 20, Timothy Kabba said, transporting 25 nationals from Senegal, Ghana, Guinea and Nigeria.
“Sierra Leone signed a Third Country National Agreement with the U.S. to accept 300 ECOWAS citizens from the U.S. per year with a maximum of 25 a month," Kabba said, referring to the West African regional bloc.
The U.S. has previously sent third-country deportees to African states including Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Eswatini, drawing criticism from legal experts and rights groups over the legal basis for the transfers and the treatment of deportees sent to countries where they are not nationals.
DEPORTEES TO AFRICA HAVE BEEN FORCED HOME
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Sierra Leone's arrangement to accept only deportees from ECOWAS countries is similar to Ghana's. Reuters has previously reported on how deportees sent to Ghana, Equatorial Guinea and elsewhere on the continent have then been forced to return to their home countries despite receiving court-ordered protection in the U.S. meant to prevent that from happening.
It is unclear whether the deportees sent to Sierra Leone will be allowed to stay there. A government spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.Kabba did not say what Sierra Leone would get in return for taking in the deportees.
“It’s part of our bilateral relationship with the U.S. to assist with its immigration policy," he said.
In a report published in February, Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said the total cost of third-country removals was unknown, but that more than $32 million had been sent directly to five countries - Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, El Salvador, Eswatini and Palau.
The U.S. and Sierra Leone have been at odds on deportations before. In 2017, during the first Trump administration, Washington said the U.S. Embassy in Freetown would deny tourist and business visas to Sierra Leonean foreign ministry and immigration officials because the government was refusing to take in Sierra Leonean deportees.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new agreement with Sierra Leone. The White House and the State Department have previously said the deportations are lawful.
(Reporting by Umaru Fofana and Robbie Corey-Boulet; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)