US Expatriates File Court Case Against Ghana Regarding Supposed Unlawful Detention
Eleven people held in Ghana following their deportation from the America have initiated a lawsuit against the authorities of the West African nation, according to their legal representative.
Their lawyer claimed that the deportees had broken any Ghanaian laws, making their detention in a army facility illegal.
He requested that the state produce the group in a judicial setting and offer a reason for their ongoing detention against their will, the lawyer added.
The administration has so far not responded on the case, but has previously indicated that it intends to accept another 40 expatriates. Opposition lawmakers are demanding the immediate suspension of the deportation agreement until it is ratified by parliament, arguing that this is mandated under Ghanaian law.
Recently, the President of Ghana John Mahama stated that fourteen deportees of African descent had entered the country under an arrangement reached with the US.
He later clarified that each one of them had been returned to their home nations, though the Minister of Foreign Affairs the top diplomat disputed this by stating that only most had been repatriated.
The court application by Mr Vormawor contradicts both accounts, claiming that eleven individuals remain in detention in Ghana.
The 11 were held in a American holding center before being restrained and expelled aboard a military cargo aircraft, as per court documents.
These deportations are in line with the US government's hard-line approach toward immigration since the US President assumed power in early this year.
He has vowed to carry out record-level removals of foreign nationals living in the country illegally.
Ghana's foreign minister was cited on Monday by a news agency as saying that the choice to take in the individuals was grounded in "humanitarian principle and pan-African empathy".
"This should not be misinterpreted as an endorsement of the immigration policies of the Trump administration," he added.
Five of the individuals, three Nigerians and two Gambians, have also filed a case against the American authorities, arguing that they were protected by a legal injunction and should not have been removed.
