‘Suspicious scheme’ — US judge queries deportation of Nigerians, Gambians to Ghana

A US federal judge has criticised the Donald Trump administration over the deportation of Nigerian and Gambian migrants to Ghana.

Tanya Chutkan, a judge of the district court in Washington DC, spoke on Saturday after lawyers representing some of the migrants raised concerns that their clients risked torture or persecution if sent back to their home countries.

Chutkan ordered the US government to submit a sworn statement on the mechanisms in place to avert the deportation of the migrants to their home countries by Ghana.

The judge said the deal looked like an “end run” around US legal requirements prohibiting deportations that could expose migrants to harm.

“I have not been shy about saying that I think this is a very suspicious scheme,” The New York Times quoted her as saying.

Chutkan said the Trump administration appeared to have deliberately bypassed immigration laws when the migrants were deported.

She, however, failed to rule in favour of the migrants, adding that “there’s no point in getting decisions from me that are immediately going to be stayed” by the supreme court.

A lawsuit filed on Friday by five migrants alleged that they were taken from a Louisiana detention facility, shackled, and placed on a US military plane without being told their destination.

The suit, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Asian Americans Advancing Justice, said the migrants had legal protections against deportation to Nigeria and Gambia.

The US Department of Justice argued that it no longer had custody of the migrants, insisting the court had no jurisdiction over diplomatic decisions. It also cited a supreme court ruling that permits the government to deport migrants to countries other than their own.

John Mahama, president of Ghana, recently said his country had reached an agreement with the US to accept West African deportees. He confirmed that 14 migrants had already arrived in Ghana.