A new group of 14 West African nationals has been deported from the United States to Ghana, marking the latest transfer under a bilateral accord between the two countries, a migrants’ rights lawyer said on Tuesday.
Oliver Barker-Vormawor, who represents the deportees, confirmed that the group arrived in Ghana on Monday, bringing the total number of people received under the agreement to 42.
Barker-Vormawor’s organisation, Democracy Hub, has filed a lawsuit against the Ghanaian government, arguing that the accord with Washington is unconstitutional because it was not approved by parliament and could violate international conventions prohibiting the return of people to countries where they may face persecution.
Government spokesman Felix Kwakye Ofosu said the Attorney General’s office would defend the deal in court but declined to comment further.
The deportations stem from a US migrant crackdown initiated under former President Donald Trump, targeting undocumented immigrants — including those with criminal records — and expanding deportations through secretive third-country agreements with at least five African nations.
Human rights organisations have condemned the programme, describing it as opaque and unjust, alleging that migrants are being sent to countries with which they have no ties and without due process. Some deportees have reportedly been sent to third countries even when their home nations were willing to accept them.
In September, lawyers told the Associated Press that 11 deportees from an earlier group of 14 were still being held at a military facility near Accra “in terrible conditions.” Barker-Vormawor later said that 10 of those migrants were deported to Togo, although only two were Togolese.
The United States first sent five deportees to Eswatini in July, citing convictions for serious crimes such as murder and child rape. Since then, Washington has deported other migrants to South Sudan, Rwanda, and Ghana, and maintains a similar arrangement with Uganda, though no deportations there have been confirmed.
According to rights monitors, six deportees remain detained in South Sudan, while Rwanda has not disclosed the whereabouts of seven others.
