West Africans deported from the United States to Ghana are now stranded in Togo without documents, according to lawyers and deportees. Those affected say they were held near Accra before being sent across the border and abandoned without passports or identification.
The situation emerged earlier this month when Ghanaian President John Mahama announced that his country had agreed to accept deportees from the region. Since then, eight to ten West African nationals have reportedly been forcibly sent from Ghana to Togo, bypassing official border procedures.
Benjamin, a Nigerian national using a pseudonym for safety, said he was staying in a hotel room with three other deportees, living on money sent from family members in the US. He said an immigration judge had ruled in June that he could not be deported to Nigeria due to threats linked to his past political activities. He had expected to be reunited with his wife and children, who are US citizens.
Benjamin described being beaten by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents when he refused to board a military plane bound for an unknown destination, which turned out to be Ghana. ICE did not respond to requests for comment.
So far, up to 28 people have been deported from the US under this program. An initial batch of 14 deportees arrived in Accra, and a second plane reportedly carried a similar number, though exact figures remain unclear. Many of these deportees had previously received protections in US immigration courts to prevent removal to their home countries for fear of persecution.
Lawyers say the US sent them to Ghana as a loophole, with Accra forwarding individuals to their home countries. One deportee, a bisexual man from the Gambia, was immediately returned to his home country and is now in hiding due to laws criminalizing same-sex relations. Two Togolese nationals were also deported to Togo with Benjamin, reportedly in distress and forced to hide upon arrival.
Benjamin and another deportee, Emmanuel, said they spent over two weeks under military guard in Ghana’s Dema camp, 70 km outside Accra. The facility exposed them to heat, mosquitoes, and unsanitary conditions. The Ghanaian military later told them they would be taken to a hotel but instead transported them to the Aflao border crossing near Lomé, Togo. Togolese border officials reportedly cooperated in moving them “through the back door” and leaving them on the other side without documents.
Emmanuel, a Liberian national granted asylum in the US during the 1990s civil war, said he had been in ICE detention after serving a prison sentence for fraud. He was fighting removal in court when deported. Both Emmanuel and Benjamin had been green card holders and married to US citizens.
The UN human rights office has urged Ghana to stop deporting individuals sent by the US to countries such as Nigeria, Gambia, Togo, Mali, and Liberia, where they may face danger or torture. The US State Department said it would pursue all appropriate options to remove individuals who should not be in the United States.
Deportees abandoned in Togo now face an uncertain future, lacking identification and legal support, while human rights advocates warn of the severe risks posed by the Trump administration’s deportation program.
