FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) 鈥� Asylum seekers deported by the U.S. to risk being sent back to their home countries where they face persecution, according to one of their lawyers and documents seen by The Associated Press, despite prior U.S. court orders barring their deportation to those countries.
About a dozen people deported from the U.S. arrived in Sierra Leone Thursday, the second deportation flight to the country after there last month, Erica Reilly, an attorney representing one of the migrants, said Friday.
Sierra Leone is one of that the U.S. has struck third-country deportation deals with. Authorities have said they are only taking in citizens of West African countries. Several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have also
A briefing pamphlet that lawyers said was distributed to the migrants upon their arrival in the capital, Freetown, reads that the government and contractors are working to 鈥渞eturn you home as quickly and safely as possible.鈥�
The pamphlet, a copy of which was seen by the AP, was distributed by Kenvah Solutions, 鈦燼 private contractor that the Sierra Leone government said it hired to handle the deportees’ accommodation, food, healthcare and transfer.
The pamphlet describes Sierra Leone as a 鈥渢emporary transit location,鈥� stating that 鈥渘o long-term settlement is provided for or permitted.鈥�
Kenvah Solutions and the Sierra Leonean authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Under a series of often-secret agreements, the Trump administration has deported thousands of people to nearly two dozen countries that are not their own, advocates say, all part of the broad U.S. crackdown . Immigration lawyers said the uses deportations to third countries as a legal loophole to indirectly force asylum seekers back to their home countries.
Sierra Leone鈥檚 foreign minister, Timothy Kabba, said last month that the government鈥檚 agreement with the Trump administration is supported by a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. government.
The program is capped at 25 deportees per month and 300 per year, according to the ministry. It did not specify the duration of the arrangement.
Reilly, the attorney representing a Nigerian man among those deported Thursday, said the migrants had legal protections from U.S. courts to not be deported to their home countries after judges ruled they faced credible fears of persecution. Now they are left with little ability to prevent being sent there.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e put in a position where they just don鈥檛 have a say at all,鈥� Reilly said.
Earlier this month, rights lawyers filed a case against Equatorial Guinea before Africa鈥檚 top human rights body, accusing the from the United States back to their .
鈥淭he U.S. government knows exactly what鈥檚 going to happen in the vast majority of these situations,鈥� Reilly said. 鈥淥ur government is just saying, 鈥榃hat happens to them after they leave the United States is not our problem.鈥欌��
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Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal.
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