A deportation pact between the Trump administration and Ghana, signed in 2025, is now reshaping daily life for Ghanaians on two continents — those facing removal from the United States and those receiving deportees on the ground in Ghana. President John Dramani Mahama announced that Ghana would only accept third-country deportees from West Africa, with onward repatriation through the ECOWAS free-movement protocol. Deportations of African nationals from the United States have more than tripled compared with the annual average under the Biden administration. As of late November 2025, more than forty West African deportees had been routed through Ghana, in addition to over two hundred Ghanaian deportees.
Ghana will only take in people of West African origin. They will be repatriated back to their home countries through the free movement permitted to members of ECOWAS.
The pact and its terms
Under the agreement, Ghana receives deportees from the United States, including people who are not Ghanaian by origin. President Mahama announced that Accra would limit acceptance to people of West African origin, who would then be repatriated through the ECOWAS free-movement protocol.
Scale of removals
Deportations of African nationals from the United States have more than tripled relative to the annual average during the Biden administration. As of late November 2025, more than 40 West African deportees had been routed through Ghana alongside more than 200 Ghanaian deportees.
On the ground in Accra
Some arrivals — including people with US asylum or other long-standing protection — have been held in military camps and guarded hotels in Ghana, with onward movement to countries they had fled years earlier. Reporting describes the chain as a conveyor belt running through Accra.
The US visa freeze
Ghana's deepening cooperation with Washington on deportations has not shielded it from broader US immigration action. A subsequent US visa freeze on Ghanaian nationals reshaped travel and study plans for thousands of households.
Pushback
Ghanaian civil society and diaspora groups have organised legal aid for affected migrants and advocacy campaigns calling for the pact to be revisited or rescinded. Reporting describes a community ready to challenge what it sees as a deal struck without public consent.
Mentioned in this story
Announced in September that Ghana would only accept third-country deportees of West African origin.
“Ghana will only take in people of West African origin. They will be repatriated back to their home countries through the free movement permitted to members of ECOWAS.”
Free-movement protocol referenced by Accra as the legal basis for onward repatriation of West African deportees.
Operating the deportation flights to Ghana under the bilateral pact.
Documented case files showing deportees with prior asylum or long-standing US protection.
Organising legal aid for affected migrants and advocacy campaigns against the pact.