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West Africans who the United States (US) has deported to Ghana are now struggling to survive in Togo after being abandoned there without any identification documents, according to lawyers and the deportees who spoke to AFP.
This situation is part of US President Donald Trump’s extensive and unclear deportation policy, and their story came to light earlier this month when Ghanaian President John Mahama revealed that his country had agreed to accept deportees from the region.
Eight to 10 West African nationals have since been forcibly sent by Ghana to Togo, bypassing a formal border crossing and left on the street without passports.
“The situation is terrible,” said Benjamin, a Nigerian national, who told AFP over the weekend he was staying in a hotel room with three other deportees and only one bed, living off money sent from their families in the United States.
So far, as many as 28 individuals have arrived in Ghana.
The government in Accra stated that an initial group of 14 deportees had arrived, and US Attorney Meredyth Yoon reported that a second flight, also carrying several individuals, had arrived, although the exact number of individuals on board remains uncertain.
The first 14 deportees had been granted protections in US immigration courts that safeguarded them from being sent back to their home nations due to fears of persecution, according to their attorneys.
However, the US is transferring them to Ghana as a loophole, Yoon explained to AFP, noting that Accra has made it clear that these individuals will be sent on to their respective home countries.
