ICE deports ex-Liberian warlord accused of torture and child soldier recruitment

On August 11, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement put Amos Sheik Massaquoi on a plane to Liberia. The 55-year-old had lived in the United States for nearly twenty years, most of them illegally. Federal authorities say he spent the 1989-2003 Liberian civil wars as chief bodyguard to a general in Charles Taylor's rebel movement, and that during those years he ordered and took part in killings, torture, arbitrary imprisonment, forced labor, and the recruitment of children into armed groups.

Massaquoi entered the country legally in August 2006 with authorization to stay until November of that year. He did not leave. For thirteen years he remained in the United States without legal status, until Homeland Security Investigations arrested him in Maryland in August 2019 for being present illegally. An immigration judge released him on bond less than two months later. He stayed out for nearly six years before ICE Baltimore took him back into custody on April 1, 2025, after he failed to comply with the conditions of his release. An immigration judge ordered his removal the following month.

The allegations against Massaquoi are specific and grave. Federal investigators say he did not simply witness atrocities during Liberia's wars—he ordered them and carried them out himself. The charges include extrajudicial killings, torture, forced labor, unlawful detention, and the conscription of children into combat. In 2004, one year after the civil war ended, he also received specialized military training at an academy in China, according to ICE records.

Liberia's civil wars, which raged for fourteen years, killed nearly 250,000 people, the vast majority of them civilians. Charles Taylor, the rebel leader Massaquoi served, eventually became president of Liberia before being convicted by an international court of aiding and abetting war crimes in neighboring Sierra Leone. He is serving a fifty-year sentence.

The deportation of Massaquoi is part of a broader federal effort to identify and remove people suspected of human rights violations and war crimes. ICE's Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center, which conducted the investigation that led to his removal, has arrested more than 520 people on human rights-related charges since 2003 and removed 1,178 known or suspected violators from the country. The center has also prevented more than 415 suspected human rights violators and war crimes suspects from entering the United States in the first place.

Frank Padula, the director of ICE's Chicago Field Office, framed the deportation as a warning. "If you are a confirmed human rights violator and you believe you can hide in the United States, you are mistaken," he said. "ICE will pursue, arrest and remove any individuals who committed atrocities abroad and ensure our communities are not used as a sanctuary from accountability." Akil Baldwin, the special agent in charge of HSI Maryland, echoed the message: "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."

The case also illustrates a gap in enforcement. Massaquoi overstayed his visa by more than a decade before being caught. Once arrested, he was released on bond and remained free for years before being re-arrested for violating the terms of that release. The timeline raises questions about how many other suspected violators may be living undetected in the country, and how quickly the system can act once someone is identified. For anyone with information about a suspected human rights violator in the United States, ICE maintains a tip line at 866-DHS-2-ICE and accepts online submissions.