ACCRA, Sept 26 (AGCNewsNet) – Eleven West African nationals deported from the United States to Ghana have been repatriated to their home countries, despite warnings they could face torture or persecution, their lawyer said Tuesday.

The group – including four Nigerians, three Togolese, two Malians, one Liberian and one Gambian – arrived in Ghana alongside three Ghanaian deportees but were removed over the weekend before a court hearing on their case.

“This is precisely the injury we were trying to prevent,” attorney Oliver Barker-Vormawor told a virtual hearing, noting that at least eight of them had previously been granted protection by U.S. immigration judges against deportation to their home countries.

Six of the deportees are now in Togo, while the whereabouts of the others remain unclear.

Ghana’s government defended its decision to accept deportees from neighboring states, stressing that it was acting on “humanitarian grounds” and not in endorsement of U.S. migration policies. Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said Accra refused any U.S. financial compensation for the arrangement.

Nigeria’s government said it was not notified in advance, noting that in the past its nationals were returned directly from the United States.

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