86 men and four women were deported to Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Wednesday from the United States after spending time in detention centers and prisons.
90 detained Somali immigrants deported from the US
Two Kenyans were initially dropped off from an American Charter Airline at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi before the plane proceeded to Mogadishu, local Kenyan media report.
Somalia’s ambassador to the United States, Ahmed Isse Awad, confirmed to Voice of America that the immigrants had requested the deportation from detention centers and prisons in the country.
“Most of them are people whose asylum cases [were] denied through [the] legal immigration process, and others broke the U.S. law and had received final orders for removal from courts in the United States,” he said.
In November last year, 108 individuals were deported to Ghana for reasons including drug-related offences, staying illegally, over staying their permits and other crimes.
20 immigrants were also deported to Liberia at the same time while 53 others had been processed to be deported.
U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to deport illegal immigrants and immigrants with criminal records as part of his immigration laws to be rolled out.
Despite former President Barack Obama’s push for immigration reforms, a record 2 million deportations have been executed in during his administration.