Ghana dumps US-deported West Africans back home amid torture fears

A fresh immigration row has erupted after Ghana quietly returned 11 West African nationals deported by the United States, despite warnings they could face torture, persecution, or inhumane treatment in their home countries.

The deportees, four Nigerians, three Togolese, two Malians, one Liberian, and one Gambian — had sued in Ghana to block their removal. But by the time their case came up on Tuesday, their lawyer, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, told the court it was already too late.

“We have to inform the court that the persons whose human rights we are seeking to enforce were all deported over the weekend. This is precisely the injury we were trying to prevent,” he said during a virtual hearing.

Shockingly, the group included at least eight people who had previously been granted protection by US immigration judges against deportation — a move meant to shield them from danger back home. Six of the men are now confirmed to be in Togo, while the whereabouts of the other five remains unknown.

Ghana’s government has defended its decision to accept the deportees, with President John Dramani Mahama insisting it was done “on humanitarian grounds” and not as an endorsement of President Donald Trump’s controversial immigration crackdown.

Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa doubled down at a press briefing in Accra, saying: “We should rather be seen as a country that wants to look out for its fellow Africans. That is why we made it clear to the Americans that we will not accept $1.” He also denied that Ghana received any compensation from Washington.

But the move has sparked outrage across the region. Nigeria’s government said it was not informed about its citizens being rerouted to Ghana, stressing that in the past, deported Nigerians were sent back directly from the US.

Critics say Ghana’s action may have condemned vulnerable migrants to the very persecution and abuse they had fought for years to escape.