A United States federal judge has raised serious concerns over the deportation of Nigerian and Gambian migrants to Ghana under an agreement between the Trump administration and the Ghanaian government.
Judge Tanya Chutkan of the Washington, D.C. District Court, on Saturday, queried the legality of the arrangement after lawyers representing some of the migrants argued that their clients faced the risk of persecution if returned to their home countries.
Chutkan ordered the U.S. government to provide a sworn statement detailing measures in place to prevent the forced return of the deportees from Ghana to Nigeria and Gambia. She described the arrangement as a possible “end run” around U.S. immigration laws that prohibit deportations where migrants could be exposed to danger.
“I have not been shy about saying that I think this is a very suspicious scheme,” The New York Times quoted the judge as saying.
Although she criticised the government’s actions, Chutkan declined to rule in favour of the migrants, noting that any such decision might immediately be stayed by the Supreme Court.
The controversy followed a lawsuit filed on Friday by five migrants who alleged that they were removed from a Louisiana detention facility, shackled, and placed on a U.S. military aircraft without being informed of their destination. The suit, supported by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Asian Americans Advancing Justice, argued that the migrants had legal protection against deportation to Nigeria and Gambia.
However, the U.S. Department of Justice countered that it no longer had custody of the migrants and insisted that the court lacked jurisdiction over matters involving diplomatic agreements. The department also cited a Supreme Court ruling that allows deportations to countries other than a migrant’s homeland.
Meanwhile, Ghana’s President, John Mahama, confirmed that his government had signed a deal with the U.S. to host West African deportees, revealing that 14 migrants had already arrived in the country.
The development has sparked criticism from human rights groups, who accuse the U.S. of outsourcing deportations in ways that undermine established protections for vulnerable migrants.
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