The first US deportation flight to Sierra Leone under President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policy has arrived in Freetown, marking a new phase in Washington’s efforts to remove migrants whose presence is deemed irregular.

The chartered aircraft landed at Freetown International Airport with nine deportees on board, far fewer than the 25 initially announced by Sierra Leone’s foreign minister, Timothy Musa Kabba. Officials later confirmed that the group comprised seven men and two women from Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea, and Senegal, all nationals of the West African regional bloc ECOWAS.

Escorted by police, the visibly shaken migrants disembarked in silence, heads lowered, before being ushered into a waiting minibus. Health ministry official Doris Bah, part of the reception team, said the group showed clear signs of psychological distress.

“All were traumatised due to the months in chains during detention in the US,” Bah said, adding that several reported being arrested at work, on the street, or even while playing football. Most, she noted, expressed a desire to return to their home countries as quickly as possible.

For now, the deportees will be housed in a hotel near the capital while authorities process their cases. Under an agreement with Washington, Freetown has committed to receive up to 300 people a year, but only those holding citizenship in ECOWAS member states. Some of the new arrivals possess long-standing Sierra Leonean residence permits, giving them up to 90 days to remain in the country before onward travel.

A foreign ministry document indicates the United States is providing 1.5 million dollars to support the scheme, covering humanitarian assistance, accommodation, and operational logistics. Officials in Freetown have declined to say whether any additional concessions were part of the deal.

In Washington, a State Department spokesperson described the removal of migrants from US territory as a “top priority,” but offered no explanation for why Sierra Leone was selected as a hub, nor what incentives were used to secure its cooperation.

Sierra Leone now joins a growing list of African states accepting US deportees, alongside Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Ghana, Rwanda, and South Sudan. Rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, have condemned such arrangements as opaque and potentially in breach of international human rights obligations, warning that vulnerable migrants risk being traded for short-term financial and diplomatic gains.