Eleven individuals deported from the United States to Ghana have filed a lawsuit against the Ghanaian government, claiming unlawful detention, according to their lawyer Oliver-Barker Vormawor.
Re[orts shows that the group had not breached any Ghanaian laws and their confinement in a military facility was therefore illegal. He is demanding that the government present the detainees in court and explain the legal basis for holding them.
While the government has yet to respond to the lawsuit, it previously announced plans to receive an additional 40 deportees. This move has sparked political backlash, with opposition lawmakers calling for an immediate halt to the deportation agreement until it is formally approved by parliament, as required by Ghanaian law.
Last week, President John Mahama stated that 14 West African deportees had arrived in Ghana under a U.S. repatriation deal. However, conflicting reports followed: Mahama claimed all had been sent back to their countries of origin, while Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said only most had been returned.
Vormawor’s legal filing disputes both accounts, asserting that 11 deportees remain in custody in Ghana. Court documents reveal that the individuals were previously held in U.S. detention centers, shackled, and flown out aboard a military cargo plane.
These deportations are part of the Trump administration’s intensified crackdown on illegal immigration, with President Donald Trump pledging unprecedented levels of migrant removals.
Ghana’s foreign minister defended the country’s decision to accept the deportees, citing humanitarian values and pan-African solidarity. He emphasized that this should not be interpreted as support for U.S. immigration policies.
Meanwhile, five of the detainees three Nigerians and two Gambians have also taken legal action against the U.S. government, arguing that a court order had protected them from deportation.
