The Ghanaian President, John Mahama, has agreed to accept Nigerians and other West African nationals who were deported from the United States of America over immigration violations and other cases of breach of the country’s entry and residency policies.
This process comes after the US President, Donald Trump took a hardline towards immigration aiming to deport millions of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally and seeking to ramp up removals to third countries.
Speaking at the press conference, Mahama disclosed that 14 deportees including Nigerians and one Gambian have already arrived in Ghana, and the government facilitated their return to their home countries.
“We were approached by the US to accept third-party nationals who were being removed from the US. And we agreed with them that West African nationals were acceptable,” Mahama said.
“All our fellow West African nationals don’t need visas to come to our country,” he added.
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.
Trump had previously overseen deportations of migrants to Eswatini, South Sudan and Rwanda despite safety concerns raised by rights groups, but, Nigeria rejected similar overtures from Washington.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, said in July that the Federal Government would not accept deportees from outside Nigeria, citing national security and economic concerns.
Trump hosted five West African leaders at the White House on July 9, where one of the key objectives was to persuade them to receive deportees from other countries.
They include the leaders of Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania and Senegal.
