AKRA, Ghana (AP) – Four lawyers of 14 West Africans who have been deported to Ghana by the US say the man remains in a third country and has not been returned to his home, contradicting previous statements by Ghanaian officials.
In a court application, the lawyer said the situation for the men remained unstable, but they were not sent to their home country.
The chaos surrounding the case reflects the Trump administration’s unsuccessful pace to advance immigration priorities, with lawyers saying they sometimes endangering their safety at the expense of immigrants’ legal rights.
Last week, news of West Africa’s deportation to Ghana emerged, sparking a lawsuit by US lawyers. They argue that the move is an attempt by US authorities to avoid their own immigration laws that prevent some men from being returned to a country where their well-being could be at risk.
Ghana’s government communications minister Felix Kwakiye Osch told The Associated Press on Monday that all 13 Nigerians, from the age of 14 and one Gambian, have “departed for their country.”
However, in court filings later Monday, the four male lawyers said they last communicated with them on Monday evening, and they were still in a camp held in Ghana. Another plaintiff they represent had been sent to his country before the suit was filed.
“The plaintiff believes that the plaintiff is still facing an imminent removal, for reasons set out in the plaintiff’s previous submission and (false) statement that the plaintiff has already been deleted in the country of origin,” the filing read.
It was not immediately possible to adjust the two versions. Ghanaian officials were unable to reach immediately to clarify.
Lawyers argue that men have legal protections
The lawyer said he was concerned that the Trump administration is trying to deport people and then distance themselves from its impact. This case elicited similarities in it Kilmer Abrego Garciaargued that those who were mistakenly deported by the regime to El Salvador, could not get him back, despite the court order banning it.
The Trump administration faces people in immigration lawsuits that cannot be sent back to their home country for legal and procedural reasons, but increasingly They are trying to send them to a third country The administration has created an agreement to receive a decoy.
The lawyer representing five of the West Africans filed the lawsuit alleging that the man sent to Ghana last Friday was sent alongside another nine, with legal protections that prevented him from being sent home for concerns of torture and persecution. The complaint filed by lawyers to advance justice said the man was given fear-based relief as he was sent to his country and asked the judge to immediately stop his deportation.
A US federal judge asked on Saturday US Government We will detail what it was doing to prevent Ghana from sending immigrants elsewhere in violation of US court orders. Agreement with the so-called government Third country Like Ghana Sweep crackdown They are trying to deport millions of people from the United States.
Justice Department lawyers argued that judges who heard the trial had no authority to control how other countries treat their withdrawals. The lawyer said the US Supreme Court ruled it this summer. The government can send immigrants Even if they had no opportunity to raise their fear of torture, they were not from their country of origin.
Lee Gererund, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, who is part of a legal organization representing five men in the lawsuit, said Monday that the whole situation was “a re-deceived of fraud.”
“The United States knew that despite the immigration judge’s orders, these individuals were headed at serious risk, but still refused to take action. It is clear that the United States has created a scheme that would avoid what it cannot be done directly with third countries.
The lawsuit filed on behalf of some of the migrants said he was detained for 16 hours on a flight to Ghana and was detained for several days in “escapable condition” after arriving there.
Ghana rejects accusations that it supports Trump’s immigration policy
Opposition parties and activists in Ghana have criticised the decision to accept the fortress of third countries. Opposition lawmakers said they would raise “severe constitutional, sovereignty and foreign policy concerns that will not be overlooked.”
At a press conference in Accra’s capital, Ghanaian Foreign Minister Samuel Okdozet Abrakwa pushed back criticism that the decision was in support of President Donald Trump’s immigration policy. Ablakwa said Ghana has not received financial compensation from the US for its deportation.
“We were unable to take over the suffering of our fellow West Africans,” the minister said of the rationale behind the government’s decision. “For now, the harsh understanding that we have with Americans is that we are just taking West Africans,” he added.
The Nigerian government said it had not explained the citizens being sent to Ghana and previously it had not explained that Nigerians had been deported from the US.
“We are not denying Nigerians who have been deported to Nigeria. What we have refused is the deportation of other people to Nigeria,” Kimebi Imomotimi Ebienfa, a spokesman for Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told the Associated Press.
Gambian authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The five West Africans who filed the lawsuit were not originally from Ghana, and the five West Africans who filed the lawsuit did not file a lawsuit or designate it as a potential country for removal.
Lawyers and activists say the Trump administration appears to be making such deportation requests to countries most affected by his policies. Trade, transfer and assistance.
Ghana joined Eswatini, Rwanda and South Sudan as African countries that received immigration from third countries deported from the US.
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Santana reported from Washington.
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