Sierra Leone Faces U.S. Travel Ban: Is Drug Trafficking the Hidden Factor ?

🇺🇸 Sierra Leone Faces U.S. Travel Ban: Is Drug Trafficking the Hidden Factor? 🇸🇱

By  FODAY MORRIS

Frequency Modulations 44.4

Date: June 7 2025

On June 6, 2025, President Donald Trump signed a sweeping executive order banning citizens from 12 countries from entering the United States—Sierra Leone among them. While the White House cited national security concerns, visa overstays, and poor record-keeping as the official reasons, a deeper look suggests that Sierra Leone’s escalating drug trafficking crisis may have tipped the scales.

A Nation on the Watchlist

Sierra Leone was placed in the “orange” tier of the U.S. policy draft, meaning its citizens will face stringent new visa restrictions starting June 9, 2025. According to U.S. officials, Sierra Leone failed to meet key information-sharing and border security standards necessary to ensure proper vetting of its citizens (Reuters).

This is not the first time the U.S. has acted against Sierra Leone. In 2017, visa sanctions were imposed after Sierra Leone refused to cooperate with deportations of its nationals from U.S. soil (DHS).

But this time, there is another dangerous undercurrent.

A Rising Narco-State?

Since President Julius Maada Bio took office in April 2018, Sierra Leone has become a growing player in West Africa’s illicit drug trade. The country is now a known transit hub for international cocaine shipments. The case of Jos Leijdekkers—a Dutch drug kingpin convicted in absentia of smuggling more than seven tonnes of cocaine—is emblematic of the crisis. Leijdekkers has lived openly in Sierra Leone, reportedly enjoying high-level protection (The Guardian).

The Kush Catastrophe

Meanwhile, the nation is battling an internal drug epidemic of its own. The synthetic drug “kush”—a toxic cocktail of synthetic cannabinoids, opioids, and even human bone powder—has ravaged communities and overwhelmed Sierra Leone’s fragile health system. In April 2024, President Bio was forced to declare a national emergency, calling kush an “existential threat” to the country (BBC).

Hospitals report a 4,000% increase in kush-related admissions in recent years. Crime, addiction, and social breakdown are rising in lockstep.

Connecting the Dots

The combination of visa violations, refusal to repatriate deportees, and an exploding drug crisis may have convinced U.S. officials that Sierra Leone is no longer a reliable security partner.

While the official U.S. ban language avoids explicit mention of the drug problem, insiders suggest the country’s growing role as a narco-transit state was a factor in the decision. The presence of protected drug traffickers like Leijdekkers and the kush epidemic create a climate of instability that concerns U.S. intelligence and immigration agencies alike.

Diplomatic Fallout

The Sierra Leonean government has reacted with alarm. In March 2025, the Foreign Minister summoned the U.S. Ambassador to seek clarification on the impending travel ban (Sierra Leone Monitor). But with the Trump administration prioritizing its “zero tolerance” immigration stance, the ban appears unlikely to be lifted any time soon.

For Sierra Leoneans, the result is clear: visiting the U.S. just became far more difficult.
For the Bio administration, the message is even clearer—deal with your drug problems, or face international isolation.