The US has already sent deportees to several other African countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana and South Sudan.
Dozens of migrants have been flown to third countries – ie nations that the deportees had not lived in prior to arriving in the US – since President Donald Trump came to power in January last year.
The mass deportation of illegal migrants was a key part of his campaign for re-election.
On Wednesday, the BBC witnessed the nine deportees arrive at Sierra Leone’s airport via a Boeing charter flight.
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, external, 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”.
Like Sierra Leone, Ghana said it would only accept deportees from Ecowas countries.
“We agreed with [the US] that West African nationals were acceptable,” Ghanaian President John Mahama said in September.
“All our fellow West African nationals don’t need visas to come to our country.”
Those deported to DR Congo, South Sudan and Eswatini have come from countries further afield, such as Colombia, Cuba, Mexico and Vietnam.
