A U.S. federal judge, Tanya Chutkan, has strongly criticised President Donald Trump’s administration for trying to deport Nigerian and Gambian migrants to Ghana instead of their home countries.
The judge, who sat in Washington, D.C.,during an emergency hearing, said the move looked like an attempt to avoid U.S. laws that stop people from being sent to places where they might face danger.
She said “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.”
Chutkan ordered the government to explain by 9 p.m. what steps were being taken to ensure Ghana would not transfer the deportees to Nigeria or Gambia.
The decision came after reports that Ghana’s President, John Dramani Mahama, confirmed an agreement with the U.S. to accept some West African deportees. He said 14 people, including Nigerians and Gambians, had already arrived in Ghana.
Details from a lawsuit filed on Friday showed shocking treatment of the migrants. Lawyers said five men were taken from a detention centre in Louisiana, shackled, and flown on a U.S. military plane without being told their destination. Some were allegedly tied in straitjackets for 16 hours.
One of the men, who is bisexual, was sent to Gambia and has since gone into hiding. Four others are being kept under harsh conditions at a military facility in Ghana.The U.S. Department of Justice argued that the deportees were no longer under American custody, so the court had no power over the matter, which it described as an issue of diplomacy. The Department of Homeland Security denied the use of straitjackets but did not address the main legal questions.
Meanwhile, the deal has faced strong criticism in Ghana. Opposition lawmakers said the arrangement was illegal because parliament was not consulted before it was signed. They warned that the agreement could make Ghana appear supportive of what they described as “harsh and discriminatory” U.S. immigration policies.