US deported foreigners still in Ghana – Barker-Vormawor alleges

Private legal practitioner Oliver Barker-Vormawor has disclosed that some West African nationals deported from the US to Ghana remain in the country, contrary to claims by President John Dramani Mahama and Minister of Foreign Affairs Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.

Barker-Vormawor, representing eleven affected individuals challenging their detention in Ghana, disclosed during a court hearing on Thursday, September 18, 2025, that his clients remain in custody and have not been repatriated to their home countries.

The lawyer, who has filed two ex parte applications made up of an injunction restraining the Ghanaian government from repatriating the US deportees and a habeas corpus application seeking an order to compel the government to produce them in court, said his clients are West African nationals from Nigeria, Liberia, Togo, Gambia, Niger, and Mali.

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According to a 3news.com report, the lawyer, during a virtual hearing on Thursday, argued that there was no legal basis for the continued detention of his clients and that no court order exists to justify it.

He cited the urgency of granting his application, noting that President Mahama and the Foreign Affairs Minister had both indicated in the media that his clients had been repatriated to their home countries.

He emphasised that, contrary to these claims, his clients are being held in military bases in the country.

He argued that the injunction application would prevent them from being repatriated to their home countries, where they could face torture and persecution.

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However, Judge Priscilla Dikro Ofori, presiding for the substantive judge, stated that she disagreed with the applications being ex parte.

Barker-Vormawor explained that this had become necessary due to the prolonged detention of his clients and that he was seeking to have them brought before a court through an ex parte motion since he has not had access to them.

The judge adjourned the matter to September 23, 2025, to consider the two applications by the lawyers for the deportees.

GA

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