More than 100 Kenyans, Somalis and South Sudanese who were deported from the United States arrived in Nairobi on Friday, officials said.
Police and Immigration officials at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport said 20 Kenyans were among those who landed at the airport early Friday.
“The deportees arrived aboard an Omni International Airlines, a private airline. It landed at JKIA shortly after 10 a.m. on Friday and was received by police and immigration officials,” said a police officer who declined to be named.
The officials said the deportations had been anticipated given the ongoing operations in the US targeting illegal immigrants.
The police officer said the Kenyans were allowed to proceed to their homes, 70 Somalis remained in the plane before it took off to Mogadishu while the 24 South Sudanese nationals left in a Juba airline.
This is the latest batch of immigrants to be deported from the US in two years under President Donald Trump.
Over 100 Kenyans have so far been deported from the United States in 2017, which was a sharp increase during Trump’s first year as president.
The rise in the number of Kenyans removed from the US from 63 in 2016 to 103 last year reflects an overall increase in deportations.
According to officials, US authorities expelled a total of 2,134 individuals from sub-Saharan countries in the past fiscal year, which ended on September 30, 2017.
That was more than double the 920 removed from the US in the same period in 2016.
The deportations came after President Donald Trump signed executive orders that include a temporary ban on most refugees and a suspension of visas for citizens of Syria and six other Middle Eastern and African countries.