A federal judge in Washington on Monday declined to block the return of four men in Ghana’s custody to countries where U.S. immigration judges found they faced a risk of torture or persecution, a ruling that clears the way for the Trump administration to send at least 14 West Africans from Ghana to their home countries.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said the administration’s practice of transferring migrants to third countries appears to be an effort to circumvent the United Nations Convention Against Torture, but she wrote that her "hands are tied" and she lacked the legal authority to order the men returned to the United States. Chutkan said she was "alarmed and dismayed by the circumstances under which these removals are being carried out, especially in light of the government’s cavalier acceptance of Plaintiffs’ ultimate transfer to countries where they face torture and persecution."
Chutkan distinguished the case from a prior incident involving Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom the administration wrongly sent to a prison in his native El Salvador. In the Ghana matter, the judge said, the government had the legal authority to send the migrants to Ghana, even if their ultimate removal could expose them to harm.
Court filings and lawyers for the migrants said the group faced harsh treatment in connection with the transfers, alleging that some were restrained with "straitjackets" for 16 hours during a flight to Ghana and were detained for days in what the complaint described as "squalid conditions" after arrival. The suit said Ghana was acting as a de facto partner in the administration’s removals. The American Civil Liberties Union, which joined the lawsuit, called the ruling disappointing. ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt said in a statement, "We are obviously disappointed by the ruling but there’s no reason why the administration should require a court to tell them to obey the laws prohibiting the transfer of individuals to countries where it’s likely they will be tortured and persecuted."
The group at issue includes 14 West Africans — 13 Nigerians and one Gambian — whom the administration moved through Ghana as a staging point for deportation to their home countries. U.S. immigration judges had found that several of the migrants had credible fears of persecution or torture in their countries of origin. The ruling covered four of the individuals; the court said it would not intervene to prevent the others from being returned.
Lawyers for the four said earlier Monday that their clients remained in Ghana, contradicting a statement from Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Ghana’s minister for government communications, who told The Associated Press that all 14 "have since left for their home countries." The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The transfers are part of a wider effort by the Trump administration to move migrants to third countries with which it has struck agreements, including Ghana, Eswatini, Rwanda and South Sudan. Administration officials have increasingly sought to bypass U.S. immigration judges’ orders barring removals by sending migrants abroad and arguing that U.S. courts lack authority over those transfers.
Chutkan characterized that approach as a pattern of evasion. Her decision underscores a legal and policy tension: courts can often review the legality of domestic removals, but their ability to intervene when migrants are placed in the custody of foreign governments is more limited. The judge’s ruling leaves open the possibility of other legal challenges, but for now allows the contested removals to proceed.
Ghanaian officials defended the country’s role and rejected suggestions it had been paid to accept the migrants. Ghanaian Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said Ghana received no financial compensation from the United States and defended the decision to accept West Africans, saying, "We just could not continue to take the suffering of our fellow West Africans." He also emphasized that Ghana’s understanding with the United States was to receive only West Africans.
Nigeria’s government said it had not been briefed about its nationals being sent to Ghana. Kimebi Imomotimi Ebienfa, a spokesperson for Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Nigeria had previously received migrants deported directly from the United States and that the government had not rejected Nigerians returned to Nigeria, but had objected to deportation of non-Nigerians into Nigeria.
Legal advocates and immigration attorneys have signaled they will continue to press challenges in the courts, arguing that sending migrants through third countries to avoid U.S. protections violates both domestic and international legal obligations. For now, Chutkan’s ruling permits the administration to continue transfers staged through Ghana even where U.S. immigration judges have found a risk of torture or persecution in migrants’ home countries.