ICE deports ex-Liberian fighter accused of torture, recruiting child soldiers

EXCLUSIVE — A former Liberian combatant believed to have ordered and participated in killings, torture and the recruitment of child soldiers was deported after spending nearly two decades in the United States.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement removed Amos Sheik Massaquoi, 55, to Liberia on Aug. 11, officials told Fox News Digital. He is believed to have served as chief bodyguard to Maj. Gen. Daniel Chea, a former leader in Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia.

ICE said Massaquoi is believed to have ordered and participated in extrajudicial killings, acts of torture, arbitrary arrests and detentions, forced labor and the recruitment of child soldiers during the Liberia’s civil wars, from 1989 to 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.

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“ICE will pursue, arrest and remove any individuals who committed atrocities abroad and ensure our communities are not used as a sanctuary from accountability.”

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Massaquoi legally entered the U.S. in August 2006 but was only authorized to remain until Nov. 6 of that year, according to ICE.

He remained in the country until Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested him in Maryland in August 2019 for being illegally present in the U.S. An immigration judge granted him bond less than two months later, and he was released.

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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.

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.

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“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.”

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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.

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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.