Sierra Leone becomes latest African country to receive deportees from US

The group consisted of seven men and two women, all of whom looked forlorn. One deportee even resisted leaving the plane, before being physically removed. Five are from Ghana, two from Guinea and one each from Nigeria and Senegal, officials told the BBC.Under Ecowas agreements, citizens of one member country can stay elsewhere in the bloc for up to 90 days.However, Kenvah Solutions, the private company housing the migrants, told the BBC the migrants would only be allowed to stay at their facilities for two weeks and would then be sent to their home countries.According to a minority report from the US senate's committee on foreign relations, the Trump administration has "likely" spent more than $40m (£30m) in third-country deportations up to January 2026, although the total cost is "unknown".The authorities in Sierra Leone have not said what they have received in return for accepting the deportees.Critics warn that Deportations to third countries violate international human rights standards and put vulnerable migrants at risk.Last September, Human Rights Watch urged African nations to reject the "opaque deals", arguing that they were "designed to instrumentalise human suffering".