Ghana Accused of Deporting US-Sent Refugees Back to Danger

Ghana has been accused of violating international law by sending refugees it received from the United States back to the countries they fled, where they could face danger, according to a report by CBS News' "60 Minutes," as relayed by DW Africa.

Interviewed on the program, US immigration lawyer Meredyth Yoon alleged that American authorities knew Ghana was returning people to their countries of origin but kept sending deportees there.

The report featured Moussa Diawara, a Malian deported from the US to Ghana, who said Ghanaian officials forced him onto a flight to Mali within five days of arrival. Yoon said US authorities had been warned through a lawsuit filed last year, yet 10 more deportation flights followed.

A US official defended the wider policy, saying the government must protect Americans from people it considers public safety threats.The allegations echo earlier controversy.

In September 2025, lawyers for 11 deportees claimed in a lawsuit that Ghana was breaching its constitution and international treaties by holding them without charge, and sought to block their return to countries where their lives were at risk.

Ghana's government has consistently defended its role. Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said Ghana accepted the deportees for humanitarian reasons, because they risked being sent to unsafe countries. He also said the decision was not an endorsement of US immigration policy.

Mustapha Bature Sallama
Medical/Science communicator, Private Investigator, Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Analysis,United States Institute of Peace (USIP), [email protected] +233555275880

References
CBS News, "60 Minutes" report on Ghana and US deportees (the primary source; I couldn't locate the direct link, so please add it from the original).

DW Africa, summary of the "60 Minutes" report (#DWAfrica).

RFI / allAfrica, "Ghana: West Africans Deported By U.S. Sue Ghana for 'Unlawful Detention'" (22 Sept 2025): https://allafrica.com/stories/202509220069.html

TimesLIVE (Reuters), "Africans deported by US to Ghana at risk if sent home, lawyer argues" (23 Sept 2025): https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/africa/2025-09-23-africans-deported-by-us-to-ghana-at-risk-if-sent-home-lawyer-argues/

AFP, "Ghana deports at least six west Africans expelled by US to Togo": https://nordot.app/1343190511217394041