THINGS ARE STILL a bit murky amid chatters and uncertainty surrounding a purported plan by the United States of America to offload scores of deportees, many of who are victims of the country’s aggressive crackdown on immigrants and a ragedy policy wreaking havoc across the globe.
THE PLAN, according to an internal document in possession of FrontPageAfrica, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, aims to ensure the dignified, safe and timely transfer from the United States to (Foreign Country) of third country natonals present in the United States who may seek protection against return to their home country or country of former habitual residence.
OVER THE PAST FEW WEEKS, US authorities have been flirting with several African nations in hopes of getting them to agree to accept deportees.
US PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, hosting the leaders of five African countries, Liberia, Mauritania, Guinea Bissau, Gabon and Senegal, referenced his migration policy: “I hope we can bring down the high rates of people overstaying visas and also make progress on the safe third-country agreements,” the US President declared.
IN THE BUILDUP TO THE White House summit, chatters in Washington and amongst citizens of the five countries feared that the US was inviting the five heads of states in a bid to demand that the accept deportees to their respective countries.
WHEN ASKED ABOUT whether the issue was discussed behind closed doors during their meeting with President Trump, Liberian President, Joseph Boakai, speaking in an exclusive interview with FrontPageAfrica last Thursday, explained that contrary to what many were speculating, the US did not force any of the visiting countries to accept deportees. What was discussed, President Boakai averred was the issue of asylum seekers.
SAID PRESIDENT BOAKAI: “What the Americans are saying is that they have asylum seekers that have been here for years and they would like for those that have already crossed the border to be sent out of the country elsewhere, they are not forcing anybody but they want for us to know that this is a concern they have and they are asking how can we contribute or how can we help and we have a show them that the relationship is an equal concern. But it’s something that we have to think about and when they begin to ask us we will know how to respond to it.”
AS PART OF THE DOCUMENT, the government of the Foreign Country agrees not to return any person transferred to Foreign Country by the Government of the United States of America to their home country or country of former habitual residence until a final decision had been made regarding any procedure, consistent with its irrelevant obligation, to resolve the status of those who may abandon pending claims or fail to seek protection. The Government of the United States of America shall not transfere unaccompanied minors pursuant to this Agreement.”
THE AGREEMENT ALSO STATES that the parties shall develop operating procedures to assist with the implementation of this Agreement. “In the event, of a conflict of interpretation or implementation, the Parties commit to resolve such matters through dialogue or diplomatic Channels.”
TO DATE, reports of the US plan have been greeted with denials. Last week, Mark Toner, departing US Ambassador to Liberia, told FrontPageAfrica that he wasn’t sure whether the issue of the deportees was brought up in the meeting between President Trump and the African heads of states visiting the US this week, but emphasized the Trump administrations rigid immigration policies. “What I can say more broadly is this administration is very serious about illegal immigration and they’re looking at all kinds of methods and working with all kinds of partners in ways to combat that. And you know, that is a sovereign nation’s right. And it’s also any nation like Liberia’s, right to either agree or not to agree with, for example to take the deportees or others back into their soil. How I feel personally about it is not important.”
DESPITE THE DENIALS, some countries are not holding back. Last week, the Nigeria’s government announced that it will resist pressure from the Trump administration to accept deportees from Venezuela and other third countries.
FOREIGN MINISTER YUSUF TUGGAR, in an interview with Nigeria’s Channels TV last Friday, said the U.S. was pressuring several African nations to accept foreign nationals whom the U.S. wants to deport. “We already have over 230 million people,” Tuggar said. “In the words of the famous U.S. rap group Public Enemy — you’ll remember a line from Flava Flav: ‘Flava Flav has problems of his own. I can’t do nothing for you, man.”‘
THERE LIES THE PROBLEM with the US and President Trump’s plan. Most of the countries being earmarked are third world countries with their own problems. Prison conditions are horrible and they are already experiencing difficulties amid poor prison facilities and conditions making life unbearable for those languishing in jail.
THE U.S. GOVERNMENT recently deported eight men to South Sudan. The deportees, from various countries — including Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cuba and Mexico — had been transferred from the U.S. to a military base in Djibouti in East Africa in May, and they were flown to South Sudan over the weekend after the US Supreme Court cleared the way for their removal.
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IN MAY, RWANDAN FOREIGN MINISTER OLIVIER Nduhungirehe told Rwandan state TV that his government was in “early talks” with Washington regarding taking in third-country nationals deported from the United States. The U.S. has also reportedly approached at least three other African nations — Benin, Eswatini and Libya– to accept deported migrants, something that Libya’s U.N.-backed government in the west and the military government that controls the east have denied.
THIS IS WHY such despicable conduct does not bode well. Ironically, the United States has long been a champion for free speech, and taking countries running afoul of human rights abuses and corruption to task in its annual Human Rights Report which from the look of things, has been laid to rest, just as its famed USAID program which helped end poverty and undertook massive education and relief efforts around the world.
PRESIDENT TRUMP and the US State Department must rethink this plan – and the idea that Africa is a dumping ground for troublemakers, terrorists or victims of an immgration system out of touch with the new realities of today.