Secret Deportation Deal Questioned
ECOWAS Court Examines Ghana-US Deportation Deal Amid Lawsuits From Rights Groups
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Key Points
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Some deportees were dumped in Togo without documents after being transferred to Ghana, according to reports tied to the case.
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The United States reversed visa curbs on Ghana shortly after the third-country deportation deal took effect, signaling a policy shift connected to the arrangement.
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Ghana-based legal challenges include a constitutional case seeking disclosure of the terms of the secret bilateral agreement, with attempts to obtain the deal’s terms reportedly failing.
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In parallel regional action, a separate June filing with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights sought to halt US deportations to Equatorial Guinea, illustrating broader legal scrutiny of Washington’s migration deals in Africa.
Rights groups filed a landmark lawsuit at the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice on June 29, 2026, on behalf of 27 deportees who say Ghana illegally helped the United States send them away without due process, according to Reuters. The case targets a secret bilateral deal under which at least 60 people have been deported to Ghana since September 2025 — many with protected status in the U.S. — and then sent on to their home countries or abandoned in neighboring Togo without documents.
Lawyers are demanding disclosure of the deal's full terms and at least $100,000 in compensation per deportee, according to Devdiscourse. Lead litigator Beatrice Njeri of the Global Strategic Litigation Council says the U.S. is "complicit in a chain of refoulement" — a legal term meaning the return of people to places where they face danger.
How the Secret Ghana Deportation Deal Took Shape
The arrangement began quietly. The first deportation flight landed in Ghana on September 6, 2025. President John Mahama publicly acknowledged the deal four days later, defending it under the ECOWAS Free Movement Protocol, which lets regional citizens stay in member states for 90 days, according to Al Jazeera. Two more flights followed, on September 19 and October 13.
Critics say the deal was a trade: cooperation for visa access. The U.S. had imposed tight visa curbs on Ghana in June 2025. Then, just weeks after the first deportation flight, Washington reversed those curbs and granted Ghanaians five-year multiple-entry visas, according to Citizen Digital. Oliver Barker-Vormawor, a Ghanaian activist lawyer, called the U.S. a "bully" that "used us and dumped us."
Deportees Stranded in Togo, Held in Military Camps
The lawsuit paints a grim picture of what happened after people landed in Ghana. Rights groups say deportees were held at Bundase military camp without access to lawyers. Some were then driven to the Togolese border and left without papers or money, according to African Insider. Several had valid U.S. legal protections — including withholding of removal orders — that bar deportation to dangerous home countries.
U.S. federal Judge Tanya Chutkan has called similar transfers an "end-run" around laws meant to protect asylum seekers. The Trump administration insists all deportees received "full due process." A February 2026 Senate Foreign Relations Committee report pushed back, labeling these deals "expensive, wasteful, and increasingly detached from transparency."
Ghana's Supreme Court and a Constitutional Showdown
The ECOWAS suit is not the only legal front. In October 2025, Democracy Hub filed a separate case in Ghana's Supreme Court, arguing the deal violated Article 75 of Ghana's 1992 Constitution, which requires parliamentary approval for international agreements, according to Yahoo News. Attempts to get the deal's actual text have so far failed.
The U.S. has paid at least $32 million across five countries to build out this deportation network, including $7.5 million to Equatorial Guinea alone, according to Senate figures cited by Ca.News.Yahoo. Ghana's government has not disclosed what, if anything, it received.
A Legal Wave Spreading Across West Africa
The Ghana case is part of a broader legal push against U.S. deportation deals in Africa. On June 5, 2026, coalition groups filed an urgent application with the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights to halt U.S. deportations to Equatorial Guinea, covering 14 individuals, according to Al Jazeera. A similar Eswatini case was allowed to proceed in March 2026, setting a regional precedent.
A ruling for the claimants at the ECOWAS Court could block the U.S. from using any West African nation — including Nigeria or Senegal — as a deportation waystation. The Migration Policy Institute counted roughly 15,000 third-country removals in 2025 globally. Rights groups warn the model will spread unless courts stop it now.
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