A U.S. judge on Saturday denounced President Donald Trump’s administration for what she deemed an intentional attempt to evade immigration laws by deporting Nigerian and Gambian migrants to Ghana.
Judge Tanya Chutkan, presiding in Washington, D.C., convened an emergency hearing after counsel asserted their clients’ fear of torture or persecution upon return to their countries of origin.
She later commanded the administration to provide a detailed explanation by 9 p.m. EDT regarding the actions being taken to prevent Ghana from sending the migrants to Nigeria or Gambia.
Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama announced this week that the country had reached an agreement with the U.S. to accept West African deportees and had already received 14 people.
According to Chutkan, the Trump administration seemed to have made the deal “to make an end run” around U.S. legal requirements against sending migrants to danger.
“These are not speculative concerns,” she affirmed. “The concerns are real enough that the United States government confirms they shouldn’t be sent back to their home country.”
According to a lawsuit filed Friday, five migrants were taken from a Louisiana detention center, shackled, and boarded onto a U.S. military plane without being told where they were headed.
According to reports, some individuals were allegedly subjected to 16-hour confinement in straitjackets. One plaintiff, identified as a bisexual man, has been transferred to Gambia and is now in hiding. Meanwhile, four other individuals are being held in a Ghanaian military facility, where conditions are said to be harsh.
The U.S. Department of Justice claimed that it was no longer responsible for the migrants and, therefore, the court could not interfere in diplomatic affairs. The Department of Homeland Security disclaimed the use of straitjackets but declined to address the associated legal concerns.
The deportations have generated criticism in Ghana, where opposition lawmakers are advocating for the agreement’s suspension, maintaining that it requires parliamentary approval and warning of the potential for Ghana to be perceived as endorsing “harsh and discriminatory” U.S. immigration policies.
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