This Thursday, the first flight of deportees sent by the United States arrived at Roberts International Airport in Harbel, just outside Monrovia, under an agreement that allows the African country to receive up to 1,200 migrants from third countries over the next 12 months.
Among the 20 deportees who arrived are Cubans, according to Reuters citing the Liberian Minister of Information.
The Minister of Information of Liberia, Jerolinmek Piah, was the one who explicitly identified the presence of Cubans.
“Most of the people are from Latin American countries. Some are from Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia, and others,” he stated to Reuters.
The Liberian authorities did not provide a breakdown by nationalities nor specified how many Cubans were traveling on that first flight.
The journalists from the AFP agency present at the airport were kept at a distance and were unable to speak with any of the arrivals.
The flight departed from Louisiana and made a stop in Dakar, Senegal, before landing in Liberia.
The Liberian Minister of Justice, Natu Oswald Tweh, explained that the government reviewed the list of migrants prior to their arrival, noting that most had committed immigration violations and that those deported will be able to apply for asylum in Liberia or leave whenever they wish.
An opaque agreement involving millions of dollars
The pact between Washington and Monrovia was signed in September 2025 and published by the State Department in March 2026, although the Liberian government announced it publicly just this past Tuesday.
The Liberian government has insisted that the agreement "is not a quid pro quo transaction" and that it has not demanded or received any compensation.
However, Reuters reported that Washington provided 5 million dollars to Liberia for "migration management activities" earlier this year.
Robert Blair, a professor at Brown University specializing in Liberian politics, questioned that version.
"It's very hard to imagine that this is true," he told Semafor, adding that Monrovia is likely hoping for "some kind of favorable deal" from Washington in the future.
An anonymous immigration lawyer summarized the situation: "Everyone is speculating because very little is written."
The State Department declined to provide details and only referred to the implementation of Trump's immigration policies as a "top priority."
The Department of Homeland Security refused to confirm the deportations "for operational security reasons."
The Cuban precedent: from Eswatini to Liberia
For Cubans, this is not the first case of deportation to an African country.
Since July 2025, the U.S. began to send Cubans to Eswatini under a similar agreement that involved up to 160 deportees in exchange for 5.1 million dollars in assistance.
One of the most documented cases was that of the Cuban Roberto Mosquera del Peral, who remained detained in a maximum-security prison in that African kingdom without formal charges.
Other Cubans were sent to South Sudan, and in July of this year, the U.S. also negotiated with Uruguay to accept deported Cubans.
Immigration lawyers have warned that these deportations to third countries operate as a legal loophole: the Trump administration argues that it is only prohibited from sending migrants directly to the countries they fled, but not to nations where they have never been and where they may face risks to their safety.
In February 2026, a federal judge in Massachusetts declared this policy illegal for not allowing prior notification or the possibility to challenge the relocation, although the implementation of the ruling was temporarily stayed.
A network of 35 countries and over 23,000 deportees
The agreement with Liberia is part of the broader immigration policy of the Trump administration.
According to Third Country Deportation Watch, an alliance of Refugees International and Human Rights First, Washington has signed agreements with at least 35 countries and has deported over 23,000 people to 26 nations under these schemes.
In Africa, Liberia joins a network that already includes Eswatini, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Ghana, Uganda, Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, and South Sudan.
With the capacity to receive up to 1,200 deportees in a year, the agreement with Liberia is one of the largest in volume that the Trump administration has negotiated on the African continent.
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