Ghana accepting west Africans deported from US

John Mahama, Ghanaian President.

Ghana is accepting west Africans deported from the United States, Ghanaian President John Mahama said Wednesday.

Deporting people to third countries -- in many cases places they’ve never lived -- has been a hallmark of U.S. President Donald Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants, notably by sending hundreds to a notorious prison in El Salvador.

Mahama told reporters Wednesday that Ghana had agreed to take in nationals from west Africa, where a regional agreement allows visa-free travel.

“We were approached by the U.S. to accept third-party nationals who were being removed from the U.S. And we agreed with them that west African nationals were acceptable,” Mahama said.

He said a “first batch” of 14 people had come to Ghana, including “several” Nigerians who have since returned to their home countries though he did not provide a timeline for when that occurred. Another arrived from The Gambia.

Ghana has long been home to Nigerian immigrants, though recent weeks have seen sporadic anti-Nigerian protests in several cities where groups of demonstrators demanded their expulsion, blaming them for rising crime, prostitution and unfair economic competition.

In late July, Nigeria sent a special envoy and its foreign ministry urged calm while Ghanaian and Nigerian officials held talks to defuse tensions.

Deal comes amid tariff, visa pressure

The deportation agreement comes as Washington has hiked tariffs on Ghanaian goods and restricted visas issued to its nationals.

Mahama described relations between Accra and Washington as “tightening”, though he said relations remained positive.

Neighbouring Nigeria, for its part, has pushed back against accepting third-party deportees.

“The U.S. is mounting considerable pressure on African countries to accept Venezuelans to be deported from the US, some straight out of prisons,” Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar said in an interview with local broadcaster Channels Television in July.

“It will be difficult for Nigeria to accept Venezuelan prisoners,” he said, going on to suggest that recent tariff threats were related to the issue of deportations.

In an unprecedented move, Trump has overseen the deportation of hundreds of people to Panama, including some who were sent away before they could have their asylum applications processed.

Hundreds have also been sent to El Salvador, with the U.S. administration invoking an 18th century law to remove people it has accused of being Venezuelan gang members.

Some were sent despite U.S. judges ordering the planes carrying them to turn around.

The White House has also deported third-country nationals to South Sudan, a war-torn, impoverished country.