FREETOWN — Amnesty International on Friday urged Sierra Leone to halt the expected repatriation of three people deported from the United States, saying they could face serious human rights violations if they are returned to their home countries elsewhere in West Africa, according to Reuters.
The rights group said Abalo Agba of Togo, Alfred Kamara of Liberia and Fatou Traore of Ivory Coast had each lived in the United States for more than 20 years when they were removed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to Sierra Leone on October 12. All three have children under 18 still in the United States, according to Amnesty.
Before their removal, each had secured a form of protection in the United States known as withholding of removal — meaning a U.S. immigration judge had found they were more likely than not to face torture or other abuses if forced home, according to Reuters. That protection barred the United States from sending them directly to their own countries. It did not stop their removal to a third country.
The third-country deal
Since taking office in January last year, the Trump administration has struck several deals with African governments willing to accept migrants from other countries. Sierra Leone reached an agreement with Washington to accept up to 300 West African third-country nationals a year, according to Reuters.
Amnesty said migrants previously deported under the deal had been quickly repatriated onward, and it criticised what it described as a “revolving door” policy of forcing people home — in effect, returning them to the very countries a U.S. judge had ruled too dangerous for them. The group’s warning is that the protection granted in an American courtroom can be undone by a second removal decided in Freetown.
Why it matters
The case is a test of how far third-country deportation agreements can go when the people being moved already hold a U.S. court finding that they face likely harm at home. It also places Sierra Leone — a country that accepted the deal — at the centre of a legal and diplomatic dispute it did not start: halting the repatriations would strain its agreement with Washington, while carrying them out would contradict the findings of U.S. immigration judges.
Neither the Sierra Leone government nor U.S. immigration authorities had announced a change of course in response to Amnesty’s appeal at the time of the Reuters report. Zark News will update this story if either government responds.
