US Deports 19 People to Ghana, 17 Deportees Claim They Were Sent Back Home Against Their Will

• An investigation in the US has obtained the names of 63 people placed on a deportation flight from Texas to West Africa
• Of 19 deportees sent to Ghana who were contacted, 17 claimed Ghana transferred them against their will to countries they had been barred from returning to
• A Department of Homeland Security lawyer told 60 Minutes he had no knowledge of Ghana forcibly returning deportees to third countries

At least 17 people deported from the United States to Ghana say the West African nation subsequently transported them against their will to their countries of origin, places that US immigration judges had explicitly ruled they could not be sent back to.

The findings were reported by CBS News programme 60 Minutes on 25 October 2026, after the show obtained the names of 63 individuals placed on a deportation flight from Texas to West Africa.

Deportees sent to countries with legal protections

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Of the 19 people on that flight who were later sent to Ghana and subsequently contacted by 60 Minutes, 17 claimed that Ghanaian authorities transported them to their home countries without their consent.

Those home countries were destinations that US immigration judges had previously determined posed a legal bar to their return, meaning the individuals had been granted some form of protection against removal to those specific locations.

The accounts raise serious questions about whether the United States government's use of third-country removal agreements, arrangements in which deportees are sent to an intermediate country rather than directly to their place of origin, effectively circumvents judicial rulings that were meant to shield those individuals from harm.

Deportees sent to countries with legal protections

A lawyer representing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) disputed the accounts when questioned by 60 Minutes. The official said he had no knowledge of any cases in which Ghana had transferred deportees to their home countries against their will.

The DHS lawyer also defended the broader policy of third-country removals, arguing that the practice had prevented criminal activity and contributed to the safety of Americans.

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The Ghanaian government had not issued a public response to the specific allegations at the time of publication.

Third-country removal agreements

Third-country removal arrangements have become an increasingly prominent tool in US immigration enforcement, with the Trump administration pursuing agreements with several nations to accept deportees who are not their own citizens.

Critics argue such arrangements can expose vulnerable individuals to danger, particularly when the receiving country then transfers them onward to locations they were legally protected from entering.

The 60 Minutes investigation adds new detail to ongoing scrutiny of how these arrangements operate in practice and whether oversight mechanisms are sufficient to ensure compliance with existing court orders.

US orders African nationals with TPS to leave

In a related development, YEN.com.gh reported that the US had cautioned holders of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) from Ethiopia and 12 other countries.

This follows a federal court decision to remove the final legal barrier blocking their removal.

Source: YEN.com.gh