Liberia has agreed to accept up to 1,200 third-country deportees from the United States, authorities in the West African country said Tuesday (August 18, 2026), in one of the largest such arrangements under the Trump administration’s policy aimed at deterring illegal migration.

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The deportees will be received within a year, with the first batch of 20 expected on Thursday (August 20), Liberia’s Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah told reporters.

The 1,200 deportees will include Africans as well as nationals from North America, South America and the Caribbean, Mr. Piah said.

The administration has struck several such third-country deportation deals with African countries.

Under a series of often-secret agreements that are part of a broad U.S. crackdown on illegal immigration, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has deported thousands of people to nearly two dozen countries that are not their own, advocates say.