A former Liberian rebel fighter and suspected war criminal who avoided deportation for 20 years has been removed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Chicago.
Amos Sheik Massaquoi, 55, is believed to have ordered and participated in killings, torture, arbitrary arrests and detentions, forced labor and the recruitment of child soldiers during the Liberian civil wars from 1989 to 2003.
Officers from ICE Chicago removed Massaquoi back to Liberia Aug. 11, the agency shared in a news release.
According to authorities, Massaquoi served as a chief bodyguard for Maj. Gen. Daniel Chea, who was a leader of Charles Taylor’s rebel movement during Liberia’s civil wars.
🇺🇸GOT HIM! ICE sends suspected Liberian war criminal packing after two decades in America.
Amos Sheik Massaquoi, 55, was removed to Liberia on Aug. 11 by ICE Chicago. Agents say the former combatant is believed to have ordered and taken part in extrajudicial k*llings, t*rture,… pic.twitter.com/oAq2Y8NRvT
— LawEnforcementToday (@LawEnforceToday) September 21, 2026
ICE said Massaquoi also received specialized military training at an academy in China in 2004, one year after Liberia’s second civil war ended.
Massaquoi fled to the United States in August 2006 but only had legal authorization to stay until Nov. 6, 2006. ICE officials did not detail terms of his initial admission.
“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 will pursue, arrest and remove any individuals who committed atrocities abroad and ensure our communities are not used as a sanctuary from accountability.”
Massaquoi remained in the country illegally for more than decade, until Homeland Security Investigations arrested him Aug. 23, 2019 in Maryland. An immigration judge granted him bond on Oct. 7, 2019, under supervised released.
Massaquoi stayed in the U.S. for another six years, until ICE Baltimore arrested him in April 2025. Officials said he failed to comply with the terms of his release, and an immigration judge ordered him removed May 14, 2025.
“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,” HSI Maryland Special Agent in Charge Akil Baldwin said.
Liberia’s civil wars killed almost 250,000 people, most of them civilians, according to the United Nations.
CNN World gathered Fast Facts about Charles Taylor’s life and described the rebel leader as “Liberia’s feared warlord.”
Taylor moved to the United States to study in 1972, returning to Liberia in 1980 to join the administration of Samuel Doe, who came into power after a coup.
In 1989, after fleeing the United States to Mexica and then Libya, Taylor formed the militia group National Patriotic Front of Liberia.
Taylor became the president of Liberia in August 1997, and served until August 2003, when he resigned and fled into exile during the Second Liberian Civil War.
Taylor stole or diverted nearly $100 million of Liberia’s funds while in power, according to the New York Times. Taylor used the money to buy houses, cars and illegal weapons while fighting the civil war.
His war crimes trial was reopened in 2010 to allow for the testimony of model Naomi Campbell and actress Mia Farrow regarding “blood diamonds” that Taylor may have given Campbell in 1997, according to CNN World.
Fox News reported Taylor 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.
Massaquoi, who had loyalty to both President Taylor and General Chea, 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,” Baldwin said.
HSI Maryland and ICE officers pursued his removal with assistance from the HSI-led Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center. The center tracks people suspected of atrocities abroad who try to enter or remain in the United States.
The case shows the government “will continue to use every tool at our disposal to ensure this country never becomes a refuge for those who brutalize innocent people,” Baldwin said.
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 War Crimes Center has also stopped more than 415 suspected human rights violators and war crimes suspects from entering the country.
