Why the US is deporting migrants to Liberia instead of their home countries

A plane carrying deportees from the United States arrives at Roberts International Airport, Harbel, near Monrovia, Liberia (Picture credit: Reuters) The United States on Thursday carried out its first deportation under an agreement allowing Liberia to accept up to 1,200 people who are not Liberian nationals, marking one of the Trump administration’s largest efforts yet to send deportees to countries other than their own.An initial group of 20 deportees arrived at Roberts International Airport outside Monrovia, according to the news agency Associated Press.The deportees will include nationals from Africa as well as North America, South America and the Caribbean, Liberian information minister Jerolinmek Piah said.Liberian justice minister Natu Oswald Tweh has said those arriving could seek asylum in Liberia if they wished.Liberia calls arrangement humanitarianPiah said the people being sent to Liberia were being received as “guests” and that the arrangement was humanitarian. According to the BBC, he said none of the initial deportees were criminals or facing prosecution in either the US or Liberia.The Liberian government has not disclosed the nationalities of the 20 people who arrive...