DAKAR, June 30 (Reuters) – Advocacy groups filed a complaint on behalf of people deported from the United States to Ghana by the Trump administration with the regional bloc representing West Africa, according to a statement released early on Tuesday.
The complaint, known as an application for a case, was filed against Ghana before the Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States on behalf of 27 deportees, the statement said.
At least 60 people were deported to Ghana in total starting in September 2025, in what the Trump administration describes as a strategy “to end illegal and mass immigration and bolster America’s border security.”
The complaint said the deportees told authorities they had been granted protections in the U.S. but most of them were removed within hours or days of their arrival in Ghana to the countries they had escaped. Some were stranded in third countries with no means to continue their journeys.
Reuters could not immediately reach spokespeople at ECOWAS and the government of Ghana for comment.
DEPORTEES SEEKING CASH, COMPENSATION
Beatrice Njeri, a litigator for the Global Strategic Litigation Council representing the deportees, told Reuters they aimed to discourage other ECOWAS members from entering into similar deals with the Trump administration.
Njeri said the group was also seeking at least $100,000 in compensation for each deportee from Ghana, along with other reparations.
Reuters was not able to interview any of the deportees or view the witness statements. The coalition of advocacy groups representing them said the deportees feared for their safety and most are in hiding at home or in third countries.
In a report published in February, Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said the total cost of third-country removals was unknown, but that more than $32 million had been sent directly to five countries, including $7.5 million to Equatorial Guinea.
The advocacy groups said the lawsuit aimed to force Ghana to disclose the terms of the deal with the Trump administration and block Ghana from accepting any future deportees under the arrangement.
(Reporting by Jessica Donati; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
