Lawsuit says US held West African migrants in straitjackets for 16 hours on flight to Ghana

"The migrants have been detained for five days in Ghana in squalid conditions and surrounded by armed military guards in an open-air detention facility, called Dema Camp, the complaint says. Conditions are abysmal and deplorable, with tents for shelter and little running water. The migrants are not from Ghana and have been told they will be sent to other countries that have been determined to be too dangerous by U.S. immigration judges"

"Defendants have enlisted the government of Ghana to do their dirty work, it says. Despite the minimal, pass-through involvement of the Ghanaian government, Defendants' objective is clear: deport individuals who have been granted fear-based relief from being sent to their countries of origin to those countries anyway, in contravention to the rulings of U.S. immigration judges and U.S. immigration law."

Five West African migrants deported from the U.S. to Ghana were held in straitjackets for 16 hours on a flight during which all passengers were shackled and given only bread and water. Passengers were awoken in the middle of the night on Sept. 5 and were not told their destination until hours into the trip on a U.S. military cargo plane. The migrants have been detained five days at Dema Camp in Ghana in squalid, open-air conditions with tents, little running water and armed military guards. The migrants are not Ghanaian and were told they will be sent to other countries previously deemed too dangerous by U.S. immigration judges. Lawyers filed a federal lawsuit in Washington on behalf of the migrants seeking an immediate halt to deportations and alleging U.S. officials enlisted Ghana to carry out removals that contravene immigration judges’ rulings and U.S. law.

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