ACCRA, Ghana — Ghana has received 14 West African nationals deported from the United States, President John Mahama said Wednesday, making the country the first in West Africa to publicly announce an arrangement to accept migrants removed from the U.S.
Mahama said the group, which included Nigerian and Gambian nationals, had arrived in Accra and that several planned to return to their home countries. “We agreed with (Washington) that West African nationals were acceptable because all our fellow West African nationals don’t need a visa to come to our country,” he told reporters.
The arrival places Ghana alongside a handful of African countries, including Eswatini, Rwanda and South Sudan, that have received migrants deported from the United States — a practice U.S. immigration officials have used more frequently under the second term of President Donald Trump. The policy has drawn criticism from lawyers and human rights groups, who say the legality of sending migrants to third countries is questionable and raises concerns about the safety and treatment of deportees once they arrive.
Lawyers for some deportees have said the Trump administration appears to be seeking acceptance deals from countries that are vulnerable to pressure related to trade, migration and aid. Rights groups have highlighted cases they say illustrate the risks: attorneys for five men deported to Eswatini in July said their clients had been held in a maximum-security prison for seven weeks without charge or access to legal counsel.
Mahama did not say whether the 14 deportees had criminal histories. He framed Ghana’s agreement with the United States in terms of regional free movement, noting that West African nationals can travel to Ghana without visas and that the country would accept fellow West Africans.
The policy shift follows a July White House meeting in which President Trump hosted five West African leaders from Senegal, Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia and Gabon to discuss whether their countries would accept deportees. Nigeria, whose citizens make up a large share of migrants removed by the U.S., publicly resisted the approach at the time, saying African countries were under “significant pressure” to receive migrants and that it would not agree to such arrangements.
Human rights organizations and some legal advocates have urged greater transparency about the terms of U.S. removal agreements with third countries and about protections for deportees upon arrival. They say recipient countries’ human rights records vary and that some have histories of targeting government critics or restricting access to legal counsel.
Ghana’s announcement comes amid broader debates over U.S. immigration enforcement, diplomatic priorities and the responsibilities of destination, transit and origin countries in managing migration. The U.S. government has increasingly sought cooperation with foreign governments on deportations and returns, but lawyers challenging removals to third countries have raised questions in courts about whether such transfers comply with international and domestic legal standards.
A previous version of related coverage mistakenly reported that Uganda had received third-country deportees from the U.S.; that information was corrected.