West Africans deported to Ghana forcibly returned home despite US protection orders
More than 30 people deported to Ghana, many with U.S. court orders against removal, were forcibly sent to their home countries. Rabbiatu Kuyateh was filmed dragged onto a van and returned to Sierra Leone despite torture fears.
Sep 15, 2025Accra, Ghana

The government of Ghana announced that 14 West Africans (13 Nigerians and 1 Gambian) deported from the US had been sent on to their home countries, prompting a lawsuit from US lawyers alleging the deportations violated immigration protections and that Ghana was used as a third country to bypass US law. Reuters later found that more than 30 third-country nationals were deported to Ghana, including at least 22 who had court-ordered protection against removal to their home countries, with lawyers saying none had a chance to raise legal objections before being sent back. One deportee, Rabbiatu Kuyateh, who had been granted protection from deportation to Sierra Leone over fears of torture tied to her father's political ties, was filmed being forcibly dragged onto a van in Ghana before being returned to Sierra Leone. Reuters also reported that Equatorial Guinea sent home at least three US deportees who had similar US protections, a previously unreported practice now the subject of complaints to the UN human rights office.
Tags
Sources
- Reuters
- Immigrants deported from US to Ghana are sent home, where lawyers say some could face torture
CNN·Sep 15, 2025·archived copy
- PBS
- Ghana took in Trump’s deported West Africans. Then it forced them home
KWSN·Jan 16, 2026
CP24·Jan 16, 2026
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