A US federal judge has faulted the Donald Trump administration for deporting Nigerian and Gambian migrants to Ghana.
Tanya Chutkan, a district court judge in Washington DC, made the remarks on Saturday after attorneys for some of the affected migrants argued that their clients faced possible torture or persecution if returned to their home countries.
Chutkan directed the US government to provide a sworn statement outlining the procedures in place to prevent deportations of the migrants to their home countries via Ghana.
The judge noted that the arrangement resembled an “end run” around US laws that prohibit removals likely to expose migrants to danger.
“I have not been shy about saying that I think this is a very suspicious scheme,” The New York Times quoted her as saying.
According to Chutkan, the Trump administration seemed to have intentionally sidestepped immigration regulations in carrying out the deportations.
However, she declined to grant relief to the migrants, explaining that “there’s no point in getting decisions from me that are immediately going to be stayed” by the supreme court.
A lawsuit filed on Friday by five migrants claimed they were taken from a Louisiana detention center, shackled, and placed on a US military aircraft without being informed of their destination.
The case, supported by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Asian Americans Advancing Justice, argued that the migrants were legally protected from deportation to Nigeria and Gambia.
The US Department of Justice maintained that it no longer held custody of the migrants and contended that the court lacked authority over diplomatic matters. It also pointed to a supreme court ruling that allows deportation of migrants to countries other than their own.
Ghana’s president, John Mahama, recently confirmed that his country had struck a deal with the US to receive West African deportees, adding that 14 migrants had already arrived in Ghana.