W/Africans deported to Ghana dumped in Togo without documents

West Africans deported by the United States to Ghana are now fending for themselves in Togo after being dumped there without documents, lawyers and deportees have told AFP.

The latest chapter in US President Donald Trump’s vast, opaque deportation programme, their saga became public earlier this month when Ghanaian leader John Mahama disclosed that his country had struck a deal 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.

Up to 28 people have arrived in Ghana so far.

Accra disclosed an initial batch of 14 and US-based lawyer Meredyth Yoon said a second plane that could carry that same amount had since landed — though it was unclear how many people were on it.

The initial 14 deportees had won protections in US immigration courts preventing their removal to their home countries for fear of persecution, their lawyers said.

But Washington is sending them to Ghana as a loophole, Yoon told AFP — with Accra making it clear people will be forwarded on to their home countries.

– Togolese nationals in hiding –

Two Togolese nationals were deported to the Togo border with Benjamin — a pseudonym he is using to protect his identity, as he fears persecution from the Nigerian government.

They were crying, repeating “it’s over, it’s over,” he said, adding that they’ve since gone into hiding.

Benjamin and another deportee, Emmanuel — also a pseudonym — said they spent more than two weeks under military guard in Ghana’s Dema Camp, in the town of Bundase, 70 kilometres outside Accra, with nine other deportees who suffered from exposure to heat, mosquitoes and unsanitary water.

The Ghanaian military eventually told them they were taking them to a hotel.

Instead, they were driven to the Aflao border crossing, on the outskirts of Togolese capital Lome, and with the cooperation of Togolese border officials taken “through the back door” of the facility and left on the other side.

“We are in hiding right now because we have no type of documents, ID whatsoever,” said Emmanuel, a Liberian national.

The State Department told AFP, “We will pursue all appropriate options to remove aliens who should not be in the United States”.

ICE did not respond to a request for comment.

The Togolese and Ghanaian governments have not commented on the developments.

AFP

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