The decision to take in West African migrants is humanitarian, not transactional, the foreign minister has said
Ghana’s decision to accept West African migrants deported from the US was driven by humanitarian concerns, not support for US immigration policy, the foreign minister has said.
Ghanaian Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa told reporters on Monday that the deportees were detained in the US and faced possible transfer to unsafe countries. He said the move was based “grounded purely on humanitarian principle and Pan-African empathy.”
Ablakwa added that the decision “should not be misconstrued as an endorsement” of US President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda. He said that Ghana has not received and does not seek any financial compensation or material benefit.
“Ghana’s action was guided solely by our moral responsibility, our legal obligations under the 1992 Constitution and ECOWAS protocols, and our Pan-African track record in championing the rights of all Africans,” the minister stated, adding that Accra will screen arrivals to ensure that criminals are not allowed into the country.
President John Dramani Mahama announced last week that Ghana agreed to admit an unspecified number of deportees at Washington’s request. Fourteen people have already arrived, including Nigerians and one Gambian.
Mahama said only West African nationals would be accepted because they are allowed visa-free entry under the ECOWAS free-movement protocol.
The president gave no details but called Ghana-US ties a “tightening situation,” citing tariff hikes from 10% to 15% and the inclusion of Ghana on a US visa-ban list. He added that Accra “still enjoys good” relations with Washington.
The move makes Ghana the fifth African state, and the only one in West Africa, to reach a deal with the Trump administration to host migrants who are ineligible to remain in the US over security concerns. Similar arrangements have been made with Uganda, South Sudan, Eswatini, and Rwanda, but the terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
Human rights groups have criticized the policy, saying it breaches international law, and the African Union’s human rights body has warned that these agreements risk turning Africa into a “dumping zone” for arbitrary expulsions.
