US Deportees Take Legal Action Against Ghana for Illegal Detention

Mon Sep 29 2025 01:55:56 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

Eleven individuals who were deported from the United States and detained in Ghana have filed a lawsuit claiming their detention is illegal. The case raises serious questions about the governance of the deportation deal between the US and Ghana.

In a significant legal development, eleven deportees from the US have sued the Ghanaian government, asserting their detention in a military camp is unlawful as they had not breached any Ghanaian laws. The government's upcoming plans to accept an additional forty deportees—alongside opposition calls for a suspension of the deal—further complicate matters. The detainees were reportedly brought to Ghana after being held in a US facility and transported in a military aircraft, with discrepancies reported regarding their status.

Eleven people detained in Ghana after being deported from the US have sued the West African nation's government, their lawyer has told the BBC.

Oliver-Barker Vormawor said the deportees had not violated any Ghanaian law, and their detention in a military camp was therefore illegal.

He wanted the government to produce the group in court, and justify why they were being held against their will, the lawyer added.

The government has not yet commented on the lawsuit, but has previously stated that it plans to accept another 40 deportees. Opposition MPs are demanding the immediate suspension of the deportation deal until parliament ratifies it, stating this is required under Ghanaian law.

Last week, Ghana's President John Mahama announced that 14 deportees of West African origin had arrived in the country following an agreement reached with the US.

He later claimed that all of them had been returned to their countries of origin, although Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa contradicted this by stating that only most of them had been returned.

Mr. Vormawor's court application disputes both statements, claiming that 11 deportees are still in detention in Ghana.

The detained individuals were reportedly held in a US facility before being sent to Ghana in a military cargo aircraft.

The deportations are part of the US government's hard-line approach towards immigration, intensified since President Trump took office, who has vowed to increase deportations of undocumented migrants.

Ghana's foreign minister has described the acceptance of the deportees as based on 'humanitarian principles and pan-African empathy,' clarifying that this should not be seen as an endorsement of Trump's immigration policies.

Additionally, five of the detainees, comprising three Nigerians and two Gambians, have initiated legal proceedings against the US government as they argue they were protected by a court order and consequently should not have been deported.