Some U.S. deportees to Ghana say they’re still held, contradicting authorities

AT LEAST 11 of the 14 immigrants deported by the United States to Ghana are still being held in the West African nation, according to the deportees and their lawyers, contradicting Ghanaian authorities who said the group had been sent to their home countries. The deportations, carried out after a swift U.S. push on immigration, began on Sept. 6, according to the detainees and court filings provided to The Associated Press, which could not independently verify every detail. The deportees spoke to AP on Wednesday on the condition of anonymity for safety.

The 11 in Ghana include four Nigerians, three Togolese, two Malians, and one each from Gambia and Liberia, the deportees said in interviews with AP. They described being held at the Bundase military camp on the outskirts of Accra, and said some were separated from the rest on arrival at the airport in Accra. One has returned to Gambia, according to his lawyer and U.S. court filings, and two others are believed to have been sent to Nigeria.

Ghana’s presidential spokesperson Felix Kwakye Ofosu told AP on Tuesday that all 14 deportees had been sent to their home countries, a claim he did not respond to when AP followed up on Wednesday. The government has previously said the group consisted mostly of Nigerians besides one Gambian. The deportees said they were not told why they were being deported, and that some had spent seven months to a year in U.S. detention; AP could not independently verify their court records.

The deportees described a brutal deportation process, with some handcuffed and placed in a straitjacket on the flight to Ghana. "Some of us are getting sick and have malaria due to bad water and bad food," said a Nigerian who had lived in the United States for 12 years. A 28-year-old Togolese detainee added, "They said nothing. Nobody said anything about why they are deporting me or where they were sending me."

Meredyth Yoon, a lawyer who represents four of the deportees who remain in Ghana, told AP that the safety of her clients is at risk. "They are afraid that the reason the Ghanaian government is insisting that they are not in the country is because they are afraid something will happen to them," she said.

The case has drawn scrutiny from human rights experts, who say international protections for asylum-seekers and the risk that people can be returned to danger are at stake. A U.S. judge said that despite protections, her "hands are tied" once migrants are in Ghana, underscoring limits on recourse after removal. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

—— Adetayo reported from Lagos, Nigeria.