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ACCRA: Eleven West African nationals deported by the US to Ghana were sent to their home countries over the weekend despite safety concerns, their lawyer told a court in Ghana on Tuesday.
The US had deported a total of 14 West African immigrants to Ghana under controversial circumstances. Although Ghanaian authorities earlier said they have all been sent home, the deportees and their lawyers later told The Associated Press that 11 of them were still at a military facility in Ghana.
The 11 deportees sued the Ghanaian government last week, seeking their release. Eight of them had told the local court that they had legal protections from being deported to their home countries “due to the risk of torture, persecution or inhumane treatment.”
“We have to inform the court that the persons whose human rights we are seeking to enforce were all deported over the weekend,” their lawyer, Oliver Barker-Vormawo, told the court Tuesday at a virtual hearing, adding that the suit had become irrelevant.
“This is precisely the injury we were trying to prevent,” he said of the safety concerns of the deportees.
The Trump administration’s deportation program has faced widespread criticism from human rights experts who cite international protections for asylum-seekers and question whether immigrants will be appropriately screened before being deported.
The administration has been seeking ways to deter immigrants from entering the US illegally and remove those who already have done so, especially those accused of crimes and including those who cannot easily be deported to their home countries.
Faced with court decisions that migrants can’t be sent back to their home countries, the Trump administration has increasingly been trying to send them to third countries under agreements with those governments.
Ghana has joined Eswatini, Rwanda and South Sudan as African countries that have received migrants from third countries who were deported from the US

DENPASAR, Indonesia: Indonesia and the European Union finalized negotiations on a trade agreement Tuesday after nearly a decade of talks, a senior minister said.
The Indonesia-European Union Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is the third deal Brussels has signed with Southeast Asian countries, after Singapore and Vietnam.
The pact was signed by EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic and Indonesian Minister of Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto in Bali and will open investment in strategic sectors such as electric vehicles, electronics, and pharmaceuticals.
“By finalizing this agreement, the EU and Indonesia are sending a powerful message to the world that we stand united in our commitment to open rules-based and mutually beneficial international trade,” Sefcovic said after the signing.
“In all, EU exporters will save some €600 million ($708 million) a year in duties paid on their goods entering the Indonesian market, and European products will be more affordable and available to Indonesian consumers,” EU President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.
Indonesia has been in talks with the EU since 2016, but negotiations for a trade deal initially saw little progress.
Issues such as palm oil and deforestation posed stumbling blocks, but US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff policy “created the urgency” to expedite an agreement, said Deni Friawan, researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The trade deal also included a protocol on palm oil, the EU said in a statement, without providing details.
“This is a ten-year journey that has resulted in a milestone that reflects our commitment and the commitment of stakeholders to an open, fair, and sustainable economic assistance,” Airlangga told a news conference.
The agreement is expected to be implemented by 2027, Airlangga added.
Around 80 percent of Indonesian exports to the EU will be tariff-free after the deal comes into force, Airlangga said in June.
Access opens
It is expected to benefit the country’s top shipments to the bloc including palm oil, footwear, textiles and fisheries, he added.
The EU is Indonesia’s fifth-largest trading partner with bilateral trade reaching $30.1 billion last year.
The agreement would further open up EU access to the Indonesian market of around 280 million people, Deni said.
Ties had been frayed by issues including a proposed import ban by Brussels on products linked to deforestation that has angered Indonesia, a major palm oil exporter.
Under the EU deforestation regulation, exports of a vast range of goods – including soy, timber, palm oil, cattle, printing paper and rubber – are prohibited if produced on land deforested after December 2020.
The EU on Tuesday proposed postponing the regulation’s implementation by another year after a backlash.
However, activists are concerned the trade agreement will lead to more deforestation driven by increased demand for Indonesian palm oil.
“The remaining natural forests in palm oil concessions will potentially be cleared in the near future (and) converted into plantations,” said Syahrul Fitra of Greenpeace Indonesia.