By The High Street Journal, with reporting from Reuters and AP
A federal judge in Washington has cast doubt on the Trump administration’s attempt to deport Nigerian and Gambian migrants by first sending them to Ghana.
Judge Tanya Chutkan raised the alarm after hearing that several migrants, who had protections against being sent home, were quietly moved from a Louisiana detention center, shackled, and flown out on a U.S. military plane without knowing their destination.
“What this looks like is an end run around U.S. law,” Chutkan said, ordering the government to explain what steps it was taking to stop Ghana from passing the migrants on to Nigeria or The Gambia, where they say they could face torture or persecution.
According to court filings, one of the men who identifies as bisexual has already been sent on to The Gambia and gone into hiding. Others are being held in rough conditions at a military-run camp in Ghana.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which is leading the lawsuit, said the Trump team was trying to pressure migrants into leaving by using “third country” deportations. The Department of Homeland Security denies that straitjackets were used on the flight, but declined to comment on the wider allegations.
