A group of West Africans migrants deported from the United States say they were subjected to inhumane treatment during a 16-hour flight to Ghana, including being strapped in straitjackets, shackled, and fed only bread and water.
The allegations were outlined in a lawsuit filed Friday in federal court in Washington on behalf of five migrants. According to the complaint, they were awakened in the middle of the night on September 5, placed on a U.S. military cargo plane, and not told where they were headed until hours into the flight.
Once in Ghana, the migrants — none of whom are Ghanaian — were sent to Dema Camp, described in court documents as an open-air detention site with tents for shelter, little access to water, and a heavy military presence. The lawsuit calls the conditions “abysmal and deplorable.”
Lawyers argue the U.S. government is circumventing immigration court rulings by deporting individuals who have already won protection against being sent back to their home countries. The complaint warns that four of the five plaintiffs — three Nigerians and two Gambians — face imminent deportation to countries where they fear for their lives. One has already been sent to The Gambia and is now in hiding.
“Defendants have enlisted the government of Ghana to do their dirty work,” the suit states, accusing the Trump administration of weaponizing third-country agreements to force deportations in violation of U.S. law.
The legal filing comes a day after Ghana’s president confirmed the arrival of 14 deportees from the U.S. — none of them Ghanaian. Ghana joins Eswatini, Rwanda, and South Sudan as African nations that have accepted deportees under Washington’s controversial third-country transfer program.
President Donald Trump has defended the policy by labeling deportees as “criminals” and “visa overstays.” Human rights groups, however, say his administration is pressuring vulnerable nations with U.S. aid and trade ties to accept migrants who should not legally be removed.
Lawyers for Asian Americans Advancing Justice, representing the migrants, are seeking an immediate court order halting deportations to countries where migrants face credible safety threats.
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