By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Ghana’s President John Mahama has confirmed that the gold-rich country is willing to accept West African nationals deported from the United States, and that 14 persons have already arrived.
Mahama who addressed reporters late Wednesday did not specify the maximum number of deportees his country would accept.
In defence of his decision, Mahama who returned to power earlier in the year said West Africans “don’t need a visa anyway” to come to Ghana.
“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 because all our fellow West Africans don’t need a visa to come to our country,” he said.
U.S. President Donald Trump has continued his hardline approach toward immigration, aiming to deport millions of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally.
He is seeking to ramp up their removals to third countries — any other country apart from their nations of origin and the United States.
A group of 14 deportees including Nigerians and one Gambian have already arrived in Ghana, and the government facilitated their return to their home countries, Mahama said at the press conference.
The Trump administration has approached a number of African governments about accepting deportees as part of its campaign to deter immigration through high-profile deportations to “third countries.”
Right groups have expressed concerns about the safety of the migrants in the third countries where they are being sent to.
In July the U.S. deported five individuals to Eswatini and eight others to South Sudan.
Rwanda received seven migrants deported from the United States in August, weeks after the two countries reached an agreement for the transfer of up to 250 people.
In July, Trump hosted five West African presidents to the White House and sources later revealed that one of the objectives of that meeting was to press the leaders to accept deportees from other countries.
