A Colombian immigrant deported from the United States to Liberia says he had never even heard of the West African country before being sent there.Arin Garcia Yepes was among a group of migrants from Latin America and other regions who were flown to Liberia last month as part of the Trump administration's expanding use of third-country deportations — sending people to countries other than their own. CBS News traveled to Liberia and spoke directly with several of the deportees about what happened to them.“Honestly, I had never heard of Liberia,” Garcia Yepes told CBS News.A Flight to an Unexpected DestinationThe group arrived in Monrovia on Aug. 20, with 15 non-Liberian deportees ultimately entering the country, according to CBS News.Brazilian deportee Paola Ferreira Dos Santos, 21, said she did not learn where she was being taken until the flight landed.“I was the first to get off the plane,” she told CBS News, recalling being told, “Welcome to Liberia. You're in Africa.”The deportees interviewed by CBS came from countries including Colombia, Brazil, Honduras and Venezuela. Some said they had spouses and children remaining in the United States.Some Had Legal ProtectionsThe circumstances surrounding the deportations are particularly significant because CBS News reported that most of the people it interviewed had previously received protections from U.S. immigration courts that prevented their removal to their home countries because of concerns they could face persecution or torture there.Those protections did not give them permanent immigration status, however. Under the administration's expanded third-country deportation policy, some people with those protections have instead been sent to other countries.The deportees told CBS News they were not notified that Liberia would be their destination or given an opportunity to challenge their removal there.Families Left Behind in the U.S.For some of the migrants, the deportation has meant being separated from immediate family members.Honduran deportee Elvis Rodriguez Venturas told CBS News that his wife and four children remain in Texas. Two of his children are U.S. citizens.“I feel far away, on the other side of the world,” Rodriguez Venturas said.Venezuelan deportee Carlos Tellez Sanchez also remains separated from his family. His wife and American-born baby are in Texas, while he says returning to Venezuela is not an option because he fears he could be in danger there.Liberia Agrees to Receive DeporteesLiberia's government announced in August that it had agreed to receive as many as 1,200 third-country deportees from the United States.The Aug. 20 flight was the first group sent under that arrangement, according to CBS News. The Liberian government has said the deportees can seek asylum in Liberia, while the migrants interviewed by CBS said they were uncertain about remaining there permanently because of concerns about employment, culture and their lack of ties to the country.The State Department has declined to provide details about the diplomatic arrangements behind third-country deportations.The U.S. Government Defends the PolicyThe Department of Homeland Security told CBS News that the administration is using what it considers lawful options to carry out its deportation campaign.The agency also pointed to the administration's self-deportation program, which offers eligible migrants a $3,000 stipend to leave the United States voluntarily.The administration has described its broader deportation effort as focused on people who are in the country unlawfully, while critics and immigration advocates have raised concerns about the treatment of migrants who have legal protections against removal to their home countries.A Future They Didn't ExpectFor Garcia Yepes and the others now living thousands of miles from the places they once called home, the immediate future remains uncertain.They are free to leave the hotel where the Liberian government is housing them, but many told CBS News they feel stranded, particularly because returning to their home countries could expose them to the dangers that previously led them to seek protection in the United States.For one Colombian deportee, the distance from home began with a destination he had never heard of.Now, Liberia is the place where he is trying to figure out what comes next.