Three Nigerians, who were recently deported from the United States and left in Ghana, have filed a lawsuit in Washington, D.C., challenging the legality of their removal and alleging maltreatment during the process.
The plaintiffs, whose names were withheld and identified only by their initials—D.A., T.L., I.O., D.S., and K.S.—joined two Gambian deportees in filing the suit at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Friday.
The case was filed on their behalf by the Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC).
In their complaint, the deportees claimed they endured inhumane conditions during the 16-hour flight from Louisiana to Ghana.
According to them, they were shackled and given nothing but bread and water throughout the journey. They also alleged that they were taken from a detention facility in Alexandria, Louisiana, in the middle of the night on September 5 without being told their destination until hours into the flight aboard a U.S. military cargo plane.
The suit names as defendants the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, the Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the U.S. Attorney General, and the Secretary of State.
Their attorneys argue that the deportation violated both U.S. immigration law and international protections.
They contended that immigration judges had already granted the plaintiffs fear-based deportation protections under the Immigration and Nationality Act and the Convention Against Torture, which should have barred their return to their home countries.
“Defendants know that they may not, consistent with U.S. immigration law, directly deport non-citizens to countries from which they have been granted fear-based protection,” the filing stated.
“As an end-run around this prohibition, Defendants have enlisted the government of Ghana to do their dirty work.”
The plaintiffs are asking U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to order their return to the United States.
Ghana’s President, John Dramani Mahama, recently confirmed that his government struck a deal with Washington to accept 14 deportees, some of whom would later be repatriated to their countries of origin.
The development comes as then-President Donald Trump intensified his hardline immigration policies, vowing to crack down on “criminals” and undocumented immigrants who overstayed their visas in the U.S.