DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Twenty migrants deported from the United States arrived in Liberia on Thursday, the first group of an eventual 1,200 deportees that the West African country says it will receive from the U.S. under a new deal.
Under a series of often-secret agreements, the Trump administration has deported thousands of people to two dozen countries that aren't their own, as it pushes ahead with its immigration crackdown, advocates say.
An estimated 11 of those agreements, nearly half the total, are with African countries and the Liberia-U.S. agreement involves one of the largest numbers of such third-country deportations
Immigration lawyers say the practice is being used as a legal loophole to indirectly return some asylum-seekers to countries they fled. Authorities in Liberia have said the deportees being welcomed in their country can seek asylum there or leave if they choose.
Here's what to know about the deportations:
Other African countries that have received or agreed to receive third-country deportees from the U.S. include South Sudan, Eswatini, Rwanda, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Congo, Uganda, Sierra Leone and the Central African Republic.
Some, like Ghana and Sierra Leone, are accepting deportees from their regions — in this case West Africa.
Many of the African countries approving the deals are among the worst hit by the Trump administration's policies, including on trade, aid and migration. A good number of them also have authoritarian governments, raising questions about the lack of accountability and due process to ensure the protection of the deportees' rights.
Details of most of the deals are never made public and some of the African nations, like Ghana's government, have defended their actions as having been taken on humanitarian grounds.
The Trump administration had spent at least $40 million to deport about 300 migrants to countries other than their own, according to a February report by the Democratic staff of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. More countries have entered the deal since then.
Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi has described his country’s agreement as an “act of goodwill between partners,” without financial compensation. The deal came as Washington increased pressure on neighboring Rwanda over its support for M23 rebels, a dynamic analysts say may help explain Congo’s willingness to cooperate.
Early flights to Africa included people that the U.S. said had convictions for serious crimes. But later transfers have included asylum-seekers with U.S. court orders protecting them from being returned to their home countries because they could face persecution or torture.
Many say they've been sent to countries with which they have no ties and where they were not told about until hours into the deportation journey.
For instance, a gay Moroccan woman deported to Cameroon, where homosexuality is illegal, and an Iranian woman with U.S. court protection from returning to Iran who was sent to the Central African Republic.
Immigration lawyer Alma David called that an effective legal “loophole,” saying deportees can be left with “impossible choices” — remain in an unfamiliar country with little support or return to a country a U.S. judge found unsafe.
U.S. policy says that when a receiving government gives blanket diplomatic assurances that deportees won't face persecution there, they can be removed without additional procedures, David told The Associated Press.
Some of the deportees have recounted being shackled while some were held in full-body restraint straitjackets called the WRAP during flights that can sometimes last more than 16 hours.
Their conditions in the different countries vary. In Sierra Leone, the government hired private contractor Kenvah Solutions to provide housing, food and healthcare.
In Congo, the International Organization for Migration said it has provided “humanitarian assistance” and offered assisted voluntary return to the migrants' home countries. But deportees told the AP their movements were tightly controlled. They were housed behind locked gates, could not leave alone and were allowed out roughly once a week accompanied by IOM staff.
In Equatorial Guinea, the AP found deportees confined in a hotel owned by the family of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. Migrants said they were barred from leaving, had uneven access to medical care and faced repeated pressure to return home. Twenty-five of at least 32 people held there had been sent to their home countries by May.
Rights advocates say the third-country deportation program risks violating non-refoulement, the principle barring governments from sending people to places where they face persecution or torture.
An international coalition sued Ghana in June on behalf of 27 deportees, alleging most were quickly sent to their home countries, despite U.S. protection orders, and that some were held under armed guard in military camps, hotels and airport cells.
Rights lawyers have also brought a case against Equatorial Guinea before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, alleging deportees were returned to countries where they faced persecution despite U.S. court protections.
Plane carrying the deportees from the US arrives at the Roberts International Airport outside of Monrovia, Liberia, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Alexander Wiaplah)
FILE -Liberia's President Joseph Boakai addresses the 80th session of the UN General Assembly at United Nations headquarters, Sept. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis, File)
FILE - Wide view of Monrovia, Liberia, from the top of the Ducor Hotel, Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Annie Risemberg, File)
The United States' debt surpassed a record $40 trillion Wednesday, a staggering milestone as defense costs, social programs and interest on the burgeoning deficit make up an enormous share of federal spending.
The milestone figure was recorded just five months after the U.S. hit a record $39 trillion debt in March. It reached $38 trillion five months before that, in October.
Federal agents seized electronic devices from former Rep. Eric Swalwell and searched his Washington home as part of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by the ex-Democratic congressman from California, according to a person familiar with the matter. Swalwell announced his resignation from Congress in April following sexual assault and misconduct allegations, which he has denied.
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The $2 million donation from IndyCar and Fox Corp. will pay for scholarships at Indiana University and Purdue University through the first lady’s Fostering the Future program for youngsters in foster care.
The Indiana schools are the latest to join a network of more than two dozen colleges and universities nationwide that participate in her program, she said during an event in the White House Rose Garden to announce the gift. Adding, it gives foster care youth the opportunity to get a college education, launch a career and achieve financial independence.
“America’s greatest competitive advantage remains in its own people,” she said.
IndyCar is sponsoring Sunday’s Freedom 250 Grand Prix through the streets of downtown Washington in celebration of America’s 250th anniversary.
The U.S. Treasury has extended a general license that grants permission for certain transactions connected to the potential sale of the foreign assets of sanctioned Russian oil firm Lukoil.
The latest license, which has been renewed several times, expires Sept. 19.
Last October, the Trump administration announced “massive sanctions” against Russia’s oil industry that were aimed at moving Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table and bring an end to Moscow’s brutal war on Ukraine. Those sanctions included punishing measures on Lukoil.
The vice president said in an interview on a radio show on Thursday that he took his youngest son, Alec Neel Vance, who was born July 19, to meet Trump.
Vance, speaking on the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show, said the president loves children and gave his son a challenge coin.
“The baby doesn’t understand that, but he will someday,” Vance said.
Vance said the meeting happened after he and his wife, Usha, had lunch with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and country music star Luke Bryan, who is in town for a show.
The president has voiced strong support for AI and data centers, emphasizing their economic benefits and importance in the global AI race.
“If I were the mayor of a town or the governor of a state, and I had a chance to get a big plant in, an AI plant or a data center,” Trump said, “I would absolutely want it because the jobs are enormous and the money paid, the taxes paid, are just enormous.”
Candidates in competitive midterm elections, however, are far less accepting.
Data centers have become a contentious issue, with concerns about energy costs and environmental impact. In Ohio, Republican Jon Husted faces attacks over his support for data centers. In Nevada, Democrat Aaron Ford accused Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo of aligning with Trump on the issue.
The debate reflects broader tensions over technology and local impact.
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Trump is expected to appear on the radio show of his former fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen.
The interview, which will be broadcast later Thursday, will be a dramatic public reunion with the man who once called Trump a “Cheeto-dusted cartoon villain” and testified against him both in court and before Congress.
Cohen served prison time for what he told a judge were his efforts to cover up Trump’s “dirty deeds.” He has since said he and the president have started to reconcile.
Cohen says Trump’s taped interview will air on his 77 WABC program Thursday evening and Sunday.
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The Trump administration is imposing new sanctions on Cuba targeting its mining and metals sectors and broadening restrictions on Americans’ transactions with government-owned or affiliated businesses. It also accused Havana of using cultural and educational exchanges to radicalize U.S. citizens.
The Treasury and State departments announced sanctions on Thursday against 10 state-owned mining, metals, and construction companies and the leadership of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, or ICAP.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said ICAP is responsible for sponsoring a “subversive network” to “cultivate” Americans, most recently with educational and cultural exchanges around the 100th anniversary of Fidel Castro’s birth earlier this month.
The sanctions follow an operation at the Miami airport last weekend in which several American citizens returning to the U.S. from events marking Castro’s birthday in Cuba were briefly detained, some of whom had their cell phones and other personal electronic devices seized for inspection.
Federal agents have seized electronic devices from former Rep. Eric Swalwell and searched his Washington home as part of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by the ex-Democratic congressman from California, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Swalwell’s devices were seized at the San Francisco airport on Saturday, and federal agents searched his home a day later.
A message seeking comment was left Thursday with an attorney for Swalwell.
Swalwell announced his resignation from Congress in April following sexual assault and misconduct allegations, which he has denied. The AP source wasn’t authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said during a CNBC interview on Thursday that an accelerated buyback of government debt “could be more than $4 billion per issue.”
His comments followed the Treasury’s Wednesday announcement that it would dramatically expand the amount of U.S. government bonds it will buy back. When asked about the motivation for the move, Bessent said: “We’re trying to signal that this is a thinly traded area of the market, we’re in August and there’s been a lot of corporate issuances.”
“We’re trying to keep the market in equilibrium.”
The first lady is partnering with IndyCar, the sanctioning body for U.S. auto racing, and Indiana and Purdue universities to fund the scholarships, her office says.
Both Indiana-based schools are joining about two dozen other institutions of higher learning to offer scholarships through Melania Trump’s “Fostering the Future” initiative benefiting young people in foster care.
A formal announcement is set for Thursday afternoon in the White House Rose Garden. The first lady will be joined by her husband and representatives from IndyCar and the universities.
The announcement comes just before Sunday’s Freedom 250 Grand Prix race in downtown Washington, which was organized by the president to help celebrate America’s 250th birthday.
The State Department said Thursday that it had given the green light for Qatar, a key U.S. partner in the Gulf, to buy four KC-46A aircraft along with assorted equipment, including turbofan engines, radar warning devices and countermeasure systems. The sale will also include trucks, training and assorted logistics services.
The sale “will increase Qatar’s capability to meet current and future threats by enhancing its defense capabilities and interoperability with U.S. and allied forces and reinforcing Qatar’s strategic role in regional security,” the department said.
Qatar, which hosts a major U.S. military base, has been a critical part of the war with Iran, including by trying to mediate an end to the conflict.
The launches come a day after North Korea shrugged off a U.S. decision to scale back military drills with South Korea in an apparent bid to resume diplomacy.
South Korea’s military said the launches of about 10 short-range ballistic missiles happened from North Korea’s capital region Thursday evening. The military said the missiles flew about 300 kilometers each toward North Korea’s eastern waters.
Trump ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises just before they began Monday. The president cited what he said was a good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korea’s refusal to support him over the war in Iran.
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Braid was in charge of helping to shepherd Trump’s legislative agenda through a Congress where his Republican Party controlled both chambers.
Vice President JD Vance wrote on X that Braid “played a critical role in all of the administration’s achievements in Congress,” including the sweeping tax and spending legislation approved last summer.
Vance described Braid as “brilliant” and “one of the hardest workers you will ever meet.”
The vice president didn’t provide details of Braid’s next job, saying only that he was “very excited to see what he does next.”
The Asia-based USS George Washington aircraft carrier is now operating in the Middle East, the U.S. military said Thursday.
The Washington is relieving the long-deployed USS Abraham Lincoln after reports that sailors were facing mental health challenges and supply shortages while supporting the Iran war.
The Lincoln’s deployment has included a record-setting uninterrupted time at sea. Democratic lawmakers are pressing for accountability from the Pentagon over conditions aboard the carrier, which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said were “completely misrepresented.”
The deployment of the Washington to the Middle East has left Asia without an American carrier strike group at a time when China shows more signs of aggression.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has designated a U.S. citizen scholar jailed in China as “wrongfully detained” as Trump prepares to welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping to the White House next month.
The State Department said Thursday that Rubio had decided that Min Zin, who was arrested by Chinese authorities in June, is being unjustly held.
“We call on Beijing to release all U.S. citizens arbitrarily detained or exit-banned in China,” the department said.
The designation raises the profile of his case within the U.S. government and in the past has led to additional attention and resources being devoted to securing the release of wrongful detainees.
Min Zin, who writes about Myanmar and Chinese foreign policy, was arrested on suspicion of spying. He was a student activist in Myanmar’s 1988 uprising, a student-led movement that the government at the time reacted to with military force. He eventually sought asylum in the U.S.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said the expansion showcases the depth of its candidate bench as they try to wrest majority control of the House.
Chair Suzan DelBene said the candidates are “proven fighters” at a time when voters are “eager for leaders who will always put the well-being of their communities first, not rubber stamp Trump’s failed agenda.”
The candidates include retired Army Brigadier General Leela Gray in Florida, former federal prosecutor Zach Dembo in Kentucky, Maine state auditor Matt Dunlap, former Navy helicopter pilot Nancy Lacore in South Carolina and former Rep. Tom Perriello in Virginia. The “red to blue” program invests in promising candidates with funding and other support.
Democrats on Thursday narrowed the list of potential host cities for their 2028 presidential convention to Boston, Denver and Philadelphia as their party looks ahead to a wide-open primary to succeed President Trump.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin said in a statement the cities put forward “incredibly strong bids,” and he promised the convention would be an “inspiring celebration of our party’s future nominee.”
A final decision is expected to be made later this year by party leaders. Republicans have already chosen Houston for the site of their 2028 convention.
The Democratic convention, scheduled for Aug. 7-10, 2028, traditionally gives the party a chance to formally introduce its nominee to the country, rally the base and kick-start the most intense period of campaigning ahead of the general election.
The party didn’t specify why Atlanta and Chicago, which was the site of the 2024 convention, were eliminated. Officials visited all five cities in April and May, considering logistical and fundraising capacity among other factors.
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Trump played White House tour guide on Wednesday, showing off the helipad he is building on the lawn before leaning over to autograph a piece of it and bragging about the ballroom he’s rushing to complete despite legal challenges.
Trump gushed for several uninterrupted minutes about granite being laid and said the chopper landing area would leave visiting foreign leaders “very impressed” — including Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is coming next month.
At times, he sounded almost like a construction manager, singing the praises of granite over asphalt in painstaking detail and noting for reporters he brought out for the show that the stone could withstand 35,000 pounds per square inch of pressure.
The president also revealed for the first time that he has replaced the walkway from the White House’s diplomatic entrance along with a portion of the asphalt driveway around the South Lawn with white granite.
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The national debt surpassed a record $40 trillion Wednesday, a staggering milestone as defense costs, social programs like Social Security and Medicare and interest on the burgeoning deficit make up an enormous share of federal spending.
The milestone figure was recorded just five months after the U.S. hit a record $39 trillion debt in March. It reached $38 trillion five months before that, in October.
The unprecedented $40 trillion figure highlights competing administration priorities, from boosting defense spending that the U.S. relies on to carry out President Donald Trump’s almost 6-month-old war in Iran to lowering the cost of gas and groceries.
Kush Desai, a White House spokesman, said the Trump administration “has been focused on slashing waste, fraud, and abuse in federal spending while accelerating economic growth to get America’s debt-to-GDP ratio trending in the right direction.”
However, experts say the exploding debt and the latest record milestone are already affecting Americans’ pocketbooks by raising borrowing costs for things like mortgages and cars, lowering wages from businesses that have less money available to invest, and creating more expensive goods and services.
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President Donald Trump listens as Gemini co-founder and president Cameron Winklevoss, left, and Gemini co-founder and CEO Tyler Winklevoss, right, watch, during a meeting with technology leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Donald Trump speaks outside the White House, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, in Washington, at the construction site of the new helicopter landing zone on the South Lawn of the White House. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with technology leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
