The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has included Liberia on a list of 36 international locations whose residents can be banned from travelling to the US based on a draft memo obtained by The Washington Submit, a U.S. media outlet.
By Anthony Stephens, senior correspondent with New Narratives
The memo “signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and despatched Saturday to U.S. diplomats who work with the international locations,” mentioned the governments of Liberia and 35 different international locations, together with Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Ivory Coast and The Gambia “had been being given 60 days to satisfy new benchmarks and necessities established by the State Division. It set a deadline of 8 a.m. Wednesday for them to supply an preliminary motion plan for assembly the necessities.”
In keeping with the Submit, the memo cited a variety of things that put the international locations on the listing. Some had “no competent or cooperative central authorities authority to supply dependable id paperwork or different civil paperwork,” or they suffered from “widespread authorities fraud.” Others had giant numbers of residents who overstayed their visas. Liberia has one of many highest charges of visa overstays. A 2023 report from the U.S. Homeland Safety Division mentioned one in each 4 Liberians who visited the nation’s on visas overstayed. Liberian journalists who travelled to the U.S. not too long ago mentioned they had been besieged by Liberians within the U.S. advising them to overstay.
Immigration has been a significant concern for the Trump administration, with the US Ambassador to Liberia, Mark Toner, warning in a commentary in April that anybody who tried coming into the U.S. “illegally, deceive get a visa, work with out authorized permission, or keep in america after your visa or visa waiver interval expires, will face severe penalties.”
He mentioned they included “jail time, deportation, and a everlasting ban on acquiring a U.S. visa sooner or later.” The moved could be an escalation for the Trump administration, which final week, started implementing travel restrictions on a residents from variety of international locations, together with Sierra Leone, Liberia’s neighbor. On the similar time the administration is arresting and deporting a rising variety of folks within the nation illegally.
Among the many methods international locations may mitigate different issues and keep away from being on the banned listing, based on the memo, was to accept third-country nationals who had been faraway from america or enter a “secure third nation” settlement. Quite a few international locations together with South Sudan and El Salvador have acquiesced to U.S. stress or monetary inducements to just accept giant numbers of individuals being deported from the U.S.
Madam Sara Beysolow Nyanti, Liberia’s International Minister, admitted the problem was a priority, telling FPA/NN in WhatsApp messages that they “are partaking on the problems of which we’re knowledgeable that the Liberian overstay fee is without doubt one of the highest.”
“Ours is larger than even Sierra Leone who’s already partially banned,” mentioned Nyanti, who held a meeting in Might in Washington with US Deputy Secretary of State, Christopher Landau, on immigration and different points.
In a Fb post concerning the assembly, the Liberian International Ministry mentioned the 2 officers additionally “mentioned alternatives to deepen U.S-Liberia cooperation on migration and different points and regarded ahead to a deliberate US-Liberia partnership dialogue slated for July 2025 in Monrovia.”
The International Ministry mentioned Nyanta and Landau “shared perspective on the significance Liberia’s overseas coverage push on financial diplomacy which aligns with that of President Trump” throughout their assembly in Might.
The journey bans mirror a significant overseas coverage shift beneath the Trump administration which has shut down USAID and lower 90 precent of overseas support. Embassies have been instructed to prioritize immigration management and enterprise offers for American firms. The one main deal for an American firm on the desk in Liberia is Ivanhoe Atlantic, previously often known as HPX, to develop the so-called “Liberty Hall”, a multiuser rail line connecting iron ore mines of Guinea with a brand new deep-water port in Didia, Liberia.
This story is a collaboration with New Narratives as a part of the “Investigating Liberia” undertaking. Funding was offered by the Swedish Embassy in Liberia. The funder had no say within the story’s content material.
