Thursday, September 11, 2025 - Ghana is accepting west Africans deported from the United States, Ghanaian President John Mahama said Wednesday.
President John Mahama said Wednesday his country has begun
accepting West Africans expelled from the United States under Donald Trump’s
immigration crackdown, part of a controversial policy that sends deportees to
third countries where many have never lived.
Deporting people to third world countries -- in many cases
places they've never lived -- has been a hallmark of US President Donald
Trump's crackdown on undocumented immigrants, notably by sending hundreds to a
notorious prison in El Salvador.
Mahama told reporters Wednesday that Ghana had agreed to
take in nationals from west Africa, where a regional agreement allows visa-free
travel.
"We were approached by the US to accept third-party
nationals who were being removed from the US. And we agreed with them that west
African nationals were acceptable," Mahama said.
He said a "first batch" of 14 people had come to
Ghana, including "several" Nigerians who have since returned to their
home countries though he did not provide a timeline for when that occurred.
Ghana has long been home to Nigerian immigrants, though
recent weeks have seen sporadic anti-Nigerian protests in several cities where
groups of demonstrators demanded their expulsion, blaming them for rising
crime, prostitution and unfair economic competition.
In late July, Nigeria sent a special envoy and its
foreign ministry urged calm while Ghanaian and Nigerian officials held talks to
defuse tensions.
The deportation agreement comes as Washington has
hiked tariffs on Ghanaian goods and restricted visas issued to its
nationals.
Mahama described relations between Accra and Washington as
"tightening", though he said relations remained positive.
Neighbouring Nigeria, for its part, has pushed back against
accepting third-party deportees.
"The US is mounting considerable pressure on African
countries to accept Venezuelans to be deported from the US, some straight out
of prisons," Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar said in an interview
with local broadcaster Channels Television in July.
"It will be difficult for Nigeria to accept Venezuelan
prisoners," he said, going on to suggest that recent tariff threats were
related to the issue of deportations.
In an unprecedented move, Trump has overseen the deportation
of hundreds of people to Panama, including some who were sent away before they
could have their asylum applications processed.
Hundreds have also been sent to El Salvador, with the US
administration invoking an 18th century law to remove people it has accused of
being Venezuelan gang members.
Some were sent despite US judges ordering the planes
carrying them to turn around.
The White House has also deported third-country nationals to
South Sudan, a war-torn, impoverished country.
0 Comments