What's Really Happening to Deported Africans?

Ghana says it has sent back 14 African immigrants deported by the U. S. to their home countries. But lawyers for some of these immigrants say that's not true. They claim their clients are still being held in Ghana. This has caused a big disagreement between the Ghanaian government and the lawyers. Ghana's communication minister said that one person from Gambia has already flown home. The other 13, all from Nigeria, were sent back by bus. But lawyers for four of the Nigerian immigrants say their clients are still being held in a facility in Ghana. The minister denied knowing about any such facility. It's hard to know who is telling the truth. The Associated Press couldn't check the current location of the deportees. But a lawyer for the Gambian person confirmed their client is in Gambia. Both Nigerian and Gambian government officials said they were not told about the deportations and were not involved in the process. A U. S. judge said she couldn't stop the deportation of four men in Ghana's custody. These men might be sent back to countries where they could face torture or persecution. The judge said she was worried about how these removals are being carried out. She also said the Trump administration is finding ways to send people back to their home countries, even when U. S. immigration judges say they should not be sent. The judge said the administration is trying to get around laws that protect people from being sent to countries where they might be tortured. She said this is different from a case where a man was wrongly sent to a prison in El Salvador. In this case, the administration can legally send people to Ghana. The American Civil Liberties Union, which joined the lawsuit, said they were disappointed by the ruling. They said the administration should follow laws that protect people from being sent to countries where they might be tortured. The U. S. Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment. The Trump administration has been trying to send immigrants to third countries with which it has agreements to take deportees. Ghana is one of these countries. The lawsuit said the immigrants were held in "straitjackets" for 16 hours on a flight to Ghana. They were also detained for days in "squalid conditions" after they arrived. The lawsuit said Ghana is doing the Trump administration's "dirty work. " Ghana's foreign minister said the decision was not an endorsement of Trump's immigration policies. He said Ghana did not receive any money from the U. S. for taking the deportees. He said Ghana is only taking West Africans. Nigeria's government said it was not told about its nationals being sent to Ghana. It said it has received Nigerians deported directly from the U. S. before. It has not rejected Nigerians deported to Nigeria, but it has rejected the deportation of other nationals into Nigeria.