Sierra Leone has become the latest African country to receive migrants deported from the United States amid Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration.
A plane carrying nine West African migrants landed at Sierra Leone's international airport, just outside the capital, Freetown, on Wednesday morning.
Last week, Foreign Minister Timothy Musa Kabba told the Reuters news agency that his country had agreed to accept up to 300 people a year expelled by the United States, with arrivals limited to citizens originally from member states of Ecowas, West Africa's economic bloc.
The US has already sent deportees to several other African countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, and South Sudan. The mass deportation of illegal migrants was a key part of Trump's campaign for re-election.
The BBC witnessed the nine deportees arrive at the airport via a Boeing charter flight. Among them were seven men and two women, with one deportee even resisting leaving the plane.
Five deportees were from Ghana, two from Guinea, and one each from Nigeria and Senegal. Despite Ecowas agreements allowing citizens from one member country to stay in another for up to 90 days, Kenvah Solutions, the private company housing the migrants, stated that the migrants would only be allowed to stay for two weeks before being sent to their home countries.
Critics warn that deportations to third countries violate international human rights standards and put vulnerable migrants at risk. Human rights organizations have urged African nations to reject these deals, arguing that they exploit human suffering for political ends.
While the Sierra Leonean authorities have not disclosed what they received in return for accepting these deportees, similar agreements have been observed in other countries considering humanitarian concerns.
