DOJ uses Alien Terrorist Removal Court for first time ever
Jonathan Fahey examines the Justice Department’s unprecedented use of the Alien Terrorist Removal Court to deport an individual considered a national security risk. The discussion also covers the disrupted Election Day terror plot allegedly tied to Afghan national Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi.
A former Liberian combatant accused of involvement in killings, torture and the use of child soldiers has been deported after living in the United States for nearly 20 years.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported 55-year-old Amos Sheik Massaquoi to Liberia on Aug. 11, officials told News Media. Authorities believe Massaquoi served as the chief bodyguard for Maj. Gen. Daniel Chea, a former commander in Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia.
According to ICE, Massaquoi is suspected of ordering and taking part in extrajudicial killings, torture, arbitrary arrests and detentions, forced labor, and the recruitment of child soldiers during Liberia’s civil wars, which lasted from 1989 through 2003.
“If you are a confirmed human rights violator, and you believe you can hide in the United States, you are mistaken,” ICE Chicago Field Office Director Frank Padula said.
ICE deported Amos Sheik Massaquoi to Liberia on Aug. 11, 2026. Authorities allege that he was involved in killings, torture, forced labor and the recruitment of child soldiers during Liberia’s civil wars. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
“ICE will pursue, arrest and remove any individuals who committed atrocities abroad and ensure our communities are not used as a sanctuary from accountability.”
Massaquoi entered the United States legally in August 2006 but was authorized to stay only until Nov. 6 of that year, ICE said.
He remained in the country until Homeland Security Investigations arrested him in Maryland in August 2019 on allegations that he was unlawfully present in the U.S. An immigration judge granted him bond less than two months later, leading to his release.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents patrol Dulles International Airport on March 24, 2026, in Dulles, Va. (Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
Massaquoi was taken back into custody by ICE Baltimore April 1, 2025, after officials said he failed to comply with the terms of his release. An immigration judge ordered him removed the following month.
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ICE said Massaquoi also received specialized military training at an academy in China in 2004, one year after Liberia’s second civil war ended.
Liberia’s civil wars killed almost 250,000 people, most of them civilians, according to the United Nations.
Taylor, who led the rebel movement before becoming Liberia’s president, was later convicted of aiding and abetting crimes committed by rebel forces in neighboring Sierra Leone. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison, according to the Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone.
Security guards stand outside a building near Roberts International Airport as deportees from the United States arrive, in Harbel, near Monrovia, Liberia, Aug. 20, 2026. (Reuters/Carielle Doe)
“Amos Sheik Massaquoi is believed to have engaged in cruelty and terror, marked by killings, torture, forced labor, unlawful imprisonment and the recruitment of children into armed conflict,” HSI Maryland Special Agent in Charge Akil Baldwin said.
“If it is confirmed that an individual has engaged in such bloodshed anywhere in the world, then you have no place in the United States.”
A plane carrying deportees from the United States arrives at Roberts International Airport in Harbel, near Monrovia, Liberia, Aug. 20, 2026. (Reuters/Carielle Doe)
The investigation was supported by ICE’s Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center, which tracks people suspected of atrocities abroad who try to enter or remain in the U.S.
Since 2003, ICE has arrested more than 520 people for human rights-related violations and removed 1,178 known or suspected human rights violators, according to the agency. The center has also stopped more than 415 suspected human rights violators and war crimes suspects from entering the country.
Anyone with information about a suspected human rights violator in the U.S. can contact the ICE tip line at 866-DHS-2-ICE or submit a tip online.