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A Friday lawsuit from a civil rights group accused the Trump administration of bypassing deportation restrictions on immigrants slated for removal by sending them to Ghana and having the West African nation deport them to their countries of origin, despite credible findings they could face harm there.
The move violates not only the due process rights of immigrants, but circumvents deportation restrictions placed by immigration judges who determined those immigrants could not be returned to their home country, attorneys from the Asian Americans Advancing Justice, wrote in their suit.
“Defendants know that they may not, consistent with U.S. immigration law, directly deport non-citizens to countries from which they have been granted fear-based protection,” according to the brief. “As an end-run around this prohibition, Defendants have enlisted the government of Ghana to do their dirty work.”
The Department of Homeland Security and government of Ghana did not respond to States Newsroom’s request for comment.
Ghana President John Dramani Mahama confirmed to Business Insider Africa this week that the country struck a deal with the U.S. to accept a group of 14 deportees and send some back to their countries of origin.
The attorneys argued that immigration judges granted their five plaintiffs fear-based deportation protections to their home country under the Immigration Nationality Act and Convention Against Torture.
They are asking U.S District Judge Tanya Chutkan to require the return of the plaintiffs to the U.S.
Chutkan sits on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. She was appointed by former President Barack Obama.
The plaintiffs are nationals of Nigeria and The Gambia.
Third-country removals
A deportation protection, such as a “withholding of removal,” doesn’t create blanket protections from removal. It requires the U.S. to find what is known as a third country that will accept the deportee.
Certain other requirements do apply. The government must notify the deportee of the country of removal and give them a chance to object if they fear persecution there.
The U.S. government must ensure that a third country that accepts a deportee won’t then conduct a removal to their home country, where U.S. immigration officials have found they could face harm.
The suit says that none of the plaintiffs were notified they would be removed to Ghana and instead they were placed on a U.S. military plane and none were given a credible fear interview of being sent to the West African country.
They were placed in straitjackets and remained on the plane for 16 hours, according to the suit.
The plaintiffs are referred to by initials in court documents.
One, referred to as K.S., “is hiding and fears for his life” in The Gambia.
K.S. was granted protections under the Convention Against Torture, a United Nations treaty, because he is bisexual and fears returning to The Gambia where he could face harm, according to court records. The Ghanaian government deported him to The Gambia on Wednesday, according to the suit.
Four others are detained in Ghana. They are referred to as D.A., T.L., I.O., and D.S in court documents.
Ghana is planning to remove them to their countries of origin by Friday, according to court records.
“The comments by U.S. officials on the plane on the way to Ghana, combined with news reports about Ghana’s involvement in a deal with the U.S. about repatriating non-citizens to their countries of origin in Africa, indicate that the U.S. is deporting people to Ghana with the intention that they be deported to their countries of origin,” according to the suit.
By Ariana Figueroa, News From The States
