A U.S. judge has declared her inability to halt the transfer of four West African men, currently held in Ghana, back to their home countries where U.S. immigration courts had previously found them likely to face torture or persecution. This decision marks a significant win for the Trump administration’s deportation policies.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan expressed concerns that the administration’s actions appeared to sidestep the UN Convention Against Torture by rerouting these individuals through Ghana, yet she concluded her “hands are tied” by legal constraints.
In her ruling, Judge Chutkan conveyed deep “alarm and dismay” regarding the methods of these removals, particularly highlighting the government’s seemingly casual acceptance that the plaintiffs would ultimately be sent to nations where they faced severe risks of torture and persecution.
This federal court decision, issued Monday night in Washington, paves the way for the deportation of 14 West African individuals from Ghana to their respective home countries, including the four involved in this specific case. These individuals, primarily from Nigeria and Gambia, face this fate despite earlier findings by U.S. immigration judges that they had legitimate fears of persecution or torture upon return.
Judge Chutkan noted that this incident exemplified a recurring pattern by the Trump administration: circumventing deportation bans by relocating individuals to third countries and then asserting that U.S. courts lacked the authority to compel their return.
She differentiated this situation from the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly sent to prison in his native El Salvador. In the West African case, she clarified, the administration had a legal basis to transfer them to Ghana, distinguishing it from the earlier error.
Lee Gelernt of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a party to the lawsuit, expressed disappointment. He stated, “We are obviously disappointed by the ruling, but there’s no reason why the administration should require a court to tell them to obey the laws prohibiting the transfer of individuals to countries where it’s likely they will be tortured and persecuted.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the judge’s decision.
Earlier on Monday, legal representatives for the four West Africans asserted that their clients were still in Ghana, directly contradicting a statement from a Ghanaian official. Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Ghana’s Minister for government communications, had informed The Associated Press that all 14 individuals—comprising 13 Nigerians and one Gambian—had already “left for their home countries.”
In situations where immigration judges have prohibited direct deportations to home countries, the Trump administration has increasingly resorted to sending individuals to ‘third countries’ through pre-arranged agreements designed to accept such deportees.
Ghana now joins Eswatini, Rwanda, and South Sudan among African nations that have accepted migrants deported from the U.S. after initially being transferred from other countries.
The lawsuit representing some of these migrants detailed alarming claims, including that individuals were held in “straitjackets” for 16 hours during their flight to Ghana and subsequently detained for days in “squalid conditions.” The legal challenge argued that Ghana was effectively carrying out the Trump administration’s “dirty work.”
Ghanaian Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa defended Ghana against accusations that its cooperation amounted to an endorsement of then-President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. On Monday, Ablakwa clarified that Ghana received no financial compensation from the U.S. for its role in these deportations.
The minister explained their rationale, stating, “We just could not continue to take the suffering of our fellow West Africans.” He further emphasized, “For now, the strict understanding that we have with the Americans is that we are only going to take West Africans.”
Nigeria’s government, however, claimed it was not informed about its citizens being sent to Ghana via this route, noting that previous deportations of Nigerians from the U.S. had always been directly to Nigeria.
Kimebi Imomotimi Ebienfa, a spokesperson for Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, clarified their stance: “We have not rejected Nigerians deported to Nigeria. What we have only rejected is the deportation of other nationals into Nigeria.”