ACCRA, Ghana — A coalition of international human rights lawyers and advocates filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Ghana, alleging the country has been forcibly sending deportees from the United States back to the very countries they had escaped — in direct violation of their rights.
The case is the latest in a series of legal challenges targeting African nations that have entered into agreements with the Trump administration to accept deportees who are not their own citizens.
The lawsuit was brought before the Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States, a regional judicial body. Among the groups involved in the coalition is the Global Strategic Litigation Council, an international network of lawyers and advocates. Notably, this is the first legal case ever filed under a 1979 regional treaty that guarantees freedom of movement throughout West Africa.
The case covers 27 individuals among the more than 60 people the U.S. has deported to Ghana since September 2025 under an agreement between the two governments. According to a statement from the coalition, Ghana accepted these deportees, held them, and arranged for their further removal — even though most of them had received formal orders of protection from U.S. judges preventing their deportation to their home countries.
The coalition’s statement says most of the 27 individuals were flown from Ghana to their home countries within hours or days of landing there, even after informing Ghanaian authorities about their U.S.-issued legal protections. Some reported being shackled during the flight from the United States. Upon arrival in Ghana, they described being held under armed guard in military camps, hotels, and airport detention areas, often under poor conditions.
At the heart of the lawsuit is the legal principle of non-refoulement — an international standard that prohibits countries from transferring individuals to places where they face persecution or torture. The coalition argues Ghana has violated this principle.
A spokesperson for Ghana’s government had not responded to requests for comment as of Tuesday.
Ghana is one of at least nine African countries that have signed third-country deportation arrangements with the U.S. Under these agreements, which are often kept secret, the Trump administration has deported thousands of people to nearly two dozen countries that are not their countries of origin, according to advocates. Immigration attorneys argue the administration uses these third-country deportations as a legal workaround to send asylum-seekers back to their home countries indirectly.
Medical assessments cited in the lawsuit found evidence of post-traumatic stress disorder and severe depression among several of the 27 individuals involved in the case.
The lawsuit is asking the regional court to halt any further transfers, compel Ghana to make public the terms of its deportation agreement, award financial damages to those affected, and prohibit Ghana from entering into similar deals going forward.
Earlier this month, a separate group of rights lawyers filed a comparable case against Equatorial Guinea — another African nation that signed a deal with the U.S. — before Africa’s top human rights body, raising similar allegations of forced deportations in violation of individuals’ rights.
