Asylum seekers deported by the United States to Sierra Leone are being told they will eventually be sent on to their home countries, despite legal protections granted by US courts, the Associated Press reports.

Sierra Leone is one of at least nine African nations that have struck third-country deportation agreements with Washington. Under its agreement, Freetown agreed to receive a maximum of 25 deportees per month, a total of up to 300 ECOWAS citizens expelled from the United States.

The first confirmed arrival under the arrangement took place in May 2026, when nine migrants deported from the US landed in Sierra Leone — five of them from Ghana and others from across the region. Rights groups say several of those on the flight had pending asylum claims or court-ordered protections that should bar their removal to the countries they fled.

Advocacy organisations warn the practice outsources US immigration enforcement to countries with no connection to the deportees' claims. A report by Human Rights First and Refugees International estimates that more than 23,000 people were forcibly transferred by the US to 26 third countries between January 2025 and August 2026.

Sierra Leonean officials have defended the agreement as a humanitarian and diplomatic contribution, saying arrivals are screened and accommodated. Human-rights lawyers continue to challenge removals in US courts, arguing they violate both US asylum law and international conventions against refoulement.

Source: Associated Press.