Ghana has agreed to receive West African nationals, including Nigerians and Gambians, deported from the US under a new agreement, with 14 already having arrived.
Ghana has agreed to accept West African nationals deported from the United States, president John Dramani Mahama announced, confirming that 14 individuals — including Nigerians and one Gambian — have already arrived. He explained that Washington approached Ghana to take in third-country nationals being removed from the US and that Ghana accepted “because all our fellow West African nationals don’t need a visa to come to our country.”
The deportees plan to return to their home countries. The decision comes amid a broader US policy intensifying immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump, including deportations of individuals who overstayed visas or lacked legal status. Rights groups and legal experts have raised concerns over the legality and humanitarian implications of deporting third-country nationals to nations like Eswatini, South Sudan, and Rwanda, which have previously accepted deportees. Ghana is now the first West African country publicly to enter into such an agreement under this framework.