Ghana recently received a new group of 19 West African migrants deported from the United States as they passed through the capital, Accra, amid growing concerns that Ghanaian authorities may forcibly return them to their countries of origin.
This marks the third such operation since the migration agreement between Accra and Washington was signed last September, under which Ghana agrees to receive irregular migrants from West African countries deported from the United States.
Shocking scenes were reported at a hotel north of Accra, where immigration officers forcibly escorted a 50-year-old Sierra Leonean woman onto a truck to be sent to the airport for deportation, just one day after she arrived with 18 other migrants who had no identification documents, following months in U.S. migrant detention centers.
The following day, Ghanaian authorities deported 10 Nigerians to their country, while their companions reported losing all contact with them since the deportation. The remaining eight migrants—from Mali, Guinea, Senegal, and Sierra Leone—are currently staying in a hotel under heavy military guard, fearing the same fate.
The migrants insist they possess legal documents proving they have been granted legal protection from deportation under the U.S. anti-torture agreement, issued by an American immigration judge. As a result, a law firm has filed a case in Ghanaian courts challenging the legality of the migration agreement signed with the United States.