Keypoints:
- US deportees left undocumented in Togo
- Ghana accused of secret transfer deal
- UN warns of risk of torture
WEST African migrants deported by the United States are hiding in Togo without identification or travel papers after being routed through Ghana under a murky agreement with Washington, according to lawyers and deportees quoted by AFP.
Ghana’s President John Mahama revealed earlier this month that his government had quietly agreed to accept deportees from the region. At least 28 people have arrived so far, with Accra confirming an initial batch of 14. US-based immigration lawyer Meredyth Yoon told AFP a second plane capable of carrying the same number has since landed, though the passenger count remains unclear.
Legal protections ignored
Lawyers for the first group said all 14 had secured court protections barring their removal to their home countries, citing risks of persecution. Yoon alleged that US officials used Ghana as a loophole to sidestep these rulings, while Ghana has made it clear the deportees will be forwarded to their respective nations.
One Gambian deportee, a bisexual man, was swiftly repatriated and is now in hiding because same-sex relationships are criminalised in Gambia, court filings show.
Harsh detention and covert transfer
Two Togolese nationals and other migrants described being held under military guard for more than two weeks at Ghana’s Dema Camp near Bundase, about 70 kilometres from Accra. They reported heat exposure, mosquito bites and unsafe drinking water.
‘They told us they were taking us to a hotel,’ said Benjamin, a deportee using a pseudonym. Instead, the group was driven to the Aflao border crossing and, with Togolese officials’ cooperation, ushered ‘through the back door’ into Togo.
Emmanuel, a Liberian national who fled civil war to the United States in the 1990s and gained asylum and a green card, said he and Benjamin were left without documents. Both men are married to US citizens and were fighting removal when deported, Yoon added.
International concern
The UN human rights office has urged Ghana to halt deportations to countries such as Nigeria, Gambia, Togo, Mali and Liberia where deportees risk torture or other harm.
The US State Department told AFP it would ‘pursue all appropriate options to remove aliens who should not be in the United States’.
Officials in Ghana and Togo have not commented on the reports.
