Federal Judge Declines to Intervene for Migrants Deported to Ghana

A federal judge in Washington excoriated the Trump administration on Monday for what she described as its disregard of court-ordered protections for migrants it had deported to Ghana, even as she declined to rule on their behalf, citing a lack of jurisdiction.

The judge called out a “cavalier acceptance” that they may face torture and persecution in their home countries, as several are set for deportation again. One of the migrants had said in a sworn statement that he had been beaten and tortured by police officers and soldiers in his home county of Nigeria, and had been told that if they ever saw him again, they would kill him.

But Judge Tanya S. Chutkan of the Federal District Court in Washington ruled late Monday that she could not prevent those migrants from being sent to their home countries because they had already been sent to Ghana — and thus out of her legal purview.

The decision was a victory for the Trump administration and the most recent sign of how recent Supreme Court rulings have paved the way for elements of President Trump’s mass deportation campaign.

The five plaintiffs in the case, identified by their initials for fear of persecution in their home counties, are citizens of Nigeria and Gambia. One man, known in the filing as K.S., has already been deported by Ghana to Gambia, where he is in hiding. K.S. is bisexual, and Gambia criminalizes relationships between men with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

The other four plaintiffs were still in Ghana as of early Tuesday, and have been told by officials there that their deportations were imminent.