The United States carried out its first deportation flight on Thursday under an agreement sending up to 1,200 non-Liberian nationals to Liberia, landing 20 deportees primarily from Latin America at Roberts International Airport amid mounting legal and operational secrecy.
Arrival in Harbel and the Breakdown of Nationalities
The flight touched down at 12:45 p.m. local time on August 20, 2026, after departing from Louisiana and making a stop in Dakar, Senegal, according to Liberian security sources and tracking data from the ICE Flight Monitor managed by Human Rights First. The initial group comprised 20 deportees from various countries. While initial U.S. and Liberian announcements broadly described the arrivals as coming from African and Western Hemisphere countries
, Liberian Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah clarified to reporters that the vast majority hail from Latin American nations, including Venezuela, Cuba, and Colombia.
The operation marks the implementation of a six-page bilateral agreement reached in September 2025. Although the public document posted on the State Department website does not specify caps or targeted nationalities, Liberian authorities confirmed the pact obligates the West African nation to accept up to 1,200 third-country nationals over a twelve-month period.
Deportee Status, Asylum Claims, and Resistance on the Tarmac
The arrival immediately encountered friction on the ground. A U.S. official confirmed that after the Eastern Airlines charter landed at Roberts International Airport outside Monrovia, a small contingent of the deportees resisted deplaning. Security personnel escorted them off the aircraft, though they briefly managed to return inside before their final whereabouts were secured.
Liberian officials emphasized that the arrivals are neither criminals nor subjects of prosecution under American or Liberian law. Instead, Monrovia characterized them as guests. Liberian Justice Minister Natu Oswald Tweh and Information Minister Piah noted that many of the individuals were sent away because U.S. immigration judges determined they faced torture or severe abuse in their home countries. Under the agreement, these migrants retain the option to seek formal asylum in Liberia or depart the country when desired.
To handle the influx, the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations refugee agency will provide support services on the ground.
Washington’s Broader Strategy and Legal Pushback
The Trump administration has actively pursued third-country removal arrangements as part of an aggressive border security strategy. The State Department defended the legality of these pacts, declaring that ending illegal immigration remains a top priority. The Department of Homeland Security declined to confirm the specifics of Thursday’s flight, citing operational security.
According to data compiled by Third Country Deportation Watch—a partnership between Refugees International and Human Rights First—Washington has struck removal pacts with at least 35 nations, including 14 countries in Africa. More than 23,000 individuals have been removed to 26 different nations under these umbrella agreements. Alongside Liberia, the U.S. has established similar third-country removal pipelines with the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and South Sudan.
Human rights advocates have criticized the third-country framework as a circumvention of international law, warning that deportees are frequently steered toward impoverished or unstable nations where they possess no social ties or face indirect risks of repatriation.
The Case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and Pending Litigation
Liberia’s agreement has also become entangled in prominent domestic litigation involving deportation errors. In October 2025, Monrovia offered to accept Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national mistakenly deported to a prison in El Salvador. Blocked by courts from returning Abrego Garcia to his native country, the administration targeted Liberia as an alternative destination.
His legal counsel secured a preliminary injunction from the federal district court in Maryland preventing his removal to Liberia.
