A United States judge has faulted the Trump administration over the deportation of Nigerian and Gambian migrants to Ghana, describing it as an apparent attempt to bypass immigration laws.
Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, D.C., raised the concern during an emergency hearing on Saturday after lawyers warned that their clients faced torture or persecution if returned to their home countries.
She ordered the administration to explain by 9 p.m. EDT what measures were being taken to prevent Ghana from transferring the migrants back to Nigeria or Gambia.
Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama confirmed this week that his country had reached an agreement with the U.S. to accept West African deportees, adding that 14 people had already arrived.
Chutkan criticised the deal, saying it appeared designed “to make an end run” around legal safeguards. “These are not speculative concerns. The concerns are real enough that the United States government agrees they shouldn’t be sent back to their home country,” she stated.
A lawsuit filed Friday alleged that five migrants were taken from a detention center in Louisiana, shackled, and flown on a U.S. military aircraft without being told where they were headed. Some were reportedly placed in straitjackets for 16 hours.
One of the plaintiffs, identified as bisexual, has already been deported to Gambia and gone into hiding. Four others remain detained under difficult conditions at a Ghanaian military facility.
The U.S. Department of Justice argued that it no longer had custody of the migrants, saying the matter was outside the court’s jurisdiction and involved diplomatic issues. The Department of Homeland Security denied the use of straitjackets but did not address the legal claims.
The arrangement has also provoked criticism in Ghana, where opposition lawmakers have demanded its suspension. They argued that the deal should have gone through parliament and warned it risks portraying Ghana as complicit in what they described as “harsh and discriminatory” U.S. immigration policies.
