President John Mahama of Ghana has said “several” Nigerians were part the initial 14 deportees sent to his country by the United States government as part of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
Mahama who did not specify the total number of deportees his country would take said nationals from various West African countries would now be taken in following a recent bilateral agreement with the US.
He cited the regional bloc ECOWAS’ free movement protocol that allows citizens of member states to enter and reside in other West African countries without a visa for up to 90 days.
Last month, the US deported seven migrants to Rwanda while in July, five were sent to Eswatini and eight others to South Sudan.
He said the Ghanaian government had already facilitated the return of the Nigerians to their country by bus while the Gambian was still being assisted to return home.
“We were approached by the US to accept third-party nationals who were being removed from the US. And we agreed with them that West African nationals were acceptable,” Mahama said.
“All our fellow West African nationals don’t need visas to come to our country,” he added.
Mahama described Ghana-US relations as a “tightening situation”, citing the hiked US tariffs on Ghanaian goods and visa restrictions on its nationals. He however said relations remained positive.
The Trump administration has approached a number of African countries to accept deportees as part of its push to deter immigration.
Some of those deported have been citizens of countries such as Jamaica, Vietnam and Laos, with rights groups arguing that this violated their basic rights.
Some countries like Nigeria have pushed back against the deportation strategy, saying it would not bow to pressure to accept third-country migrants from the US.
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