Deported migrants to Sierra Leone face persecution risks

third-country deportations – A second U.S. deportation flight to Sierra Leone landed in Freetown on Thursday, bringing migrants who, attorneys say, were protected by U.S. court orders from being sent to countries where they fear persecution. Lawyers and documents seen show a “temporary tr

By the time the second deportation flight reached Freetown, Sierra Leone, the question wasn’t just how the asylum seekers got there. It was what could happen next.

About a dozen people deported by the United States arrived in Sierra Leone on Thursday—what appears to be the second deportation flight to the country after nine West African migrants landed there last month. according to Erica Reilly. an attorney representing one of the migrants. Reilly said Friday that Sierra Leone is one of at least nine other African nations the U.S. has struck “third-country” deportation deals with. Authorities have said the country is only taking in citizens of West African countries.

The human cost, attorneys say, is that these transfers can function like a detour back to places where migrants fear persecution—despite U.S. court orders that previously barred deportation to their home countries.

Reilly, who represents a Nigerian man among those deported Thursday, said the migrants had legal protections from U.S. courts after judges ruled they faced credible fears of persecution. Now, she said, they are left with little power to prevent what comes after they arrive in Sierra Leone.

“They’re put in a position where they just don’t have a say at all,” Reilly said.

Documents seen in Freetown add weight to that worry. A briefing pamphlet distributed to the migrants upon their arrival told them that the government and contractors were working to “return you home as quickly and safely as possible.” The pamphlet also described Sierra Leone as a “temporary transit location. ” saying “no long-term settlement is provided for or permitted.”.

That packet was distributed by Kenvah Solutions, a private contractor the Sierra Leone government said it hired to handle the deportees’ accommodation, food, healthcare and transfer. Kenvah Solutions and Sierra Leonean authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Sierra Leone’s role in the wider U.S. approach is part of a broader system of third-country agreements. Under a series of often-secret deals. the Trump administration has deported thousands of people to nearly two dozen countries that are not their own. advocates say. as part of a broad U.S. crackdown on immigration. Immigration lawyers said the administration uses deportations to third countries as a legal loophole to indirectly force asylum seekers back to their home countries.

Sierra Leone’s foreign minister. Timothy Kabba. said last month that the government’s agreement with the Trump administration is supported by a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. The program is capped at 25 deportees per month and 300 per year, according to the ministry. It did not specify the duration of the arrangement.

Reilly also pointed to the larger question of whether rights are only being enforced until the point of departure. She said the U.S. government knows what happens in most of these cases and that responsibility is being shifted away once the deportees are no longer in U.S. custody.

“The U.S. government knows exactly what’s going to happen in the vast majority of these situations,” Reilly said. “Our government is just saying, ‘What happens to them after they leave the United States is not our problem.’”

Earlier this month. rights lawyers filed a case against Equatorial Guinea before Africa’s top human rights body. accusing the central African nation of forcing deportees from the United States back to their home countries in violation of their rights. The legal fight. Reilly said. is rooted in the same concern now unfolding in Sierra Leone: that court protections can be undermined by a chain of transfers.

For the migrants arriving in Freetown. the pamphlet’s promise of speed and safety runs straight into a more troubling reality—one that centers on where they will be sent after the “temporary transit” ends. and whether their fear of persecution is still treated as something that must be prevented or merely something to outlast.

The city of Freetown, Sierra Leone, is seen on April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu, File)

Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal.

United States immigration deportation third-country deals Sierra Leone asylum seekers Freetown Erica Reilly Kenvah Solutions Timothy Kabba U.S. court orders persecution risk Equatorial Guinea human rights case immigration crackdown