Bisexual U.S. deportee in hiding in homophobic Gambia
U.S. deported him to Ghana, which deported him to the dangers of his native Gambia
A bisexual U.S. deportee is in hiding in the Gambia after Ghana deported him there shortly after he arrived in Ghana on a U.S. deportation flight, The New York Times reported.
In the Gambia, consensual same-sex intimacy is illegal, punishable by up to 14 years in prison or, in cases of repeated offenses, by life in prison.
The man, identified only as K.S., was one of 14 men from Nigeria and the Gambia who were deported to Ghana despite their objection to being sent to countries where they would be at risk.
In Ghana, same-sex intercourse is a misdemeanor that is punishable by up to three years in prison. In Nigeria, it is punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
The Associated Press reported:
“Lawyers have said they’re concerned that the Trump administration is deporting people and then trying to distance itself from the repercussions. …
“The Trump administration, faced with people in immigration proceedings who for legal and procedural reasons cannot be sent back to their home countries, has increasingly been trying to send them to third countries with which the administration has created agreements to take deportees.
“Lawyers representing five of the West African men filed a lawsuit last Friday arguing that the men, who’d been sent to Ghana along with another nine people, had legal protections preventing them from being sent home over concerns they’d be tortured or persecuted. The complaint, filed by lawyers for Asian Americans Advancing Justice, said the men had been granted fear-based relief from being sent to their countries and asked the judge to immediately halt their deportations.”
In court papers, the five men were identified by their initials for fear of persecution in their home counties.
A federal judge rejected the men’s appeal on Monday even as she criticized the Trump administration. She said her hands were tied.
“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.”
“Lee Gelernt, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union who is part of a legal group representing the five men in the lawsuit, said Monday that the whole situation ‘reeks of a scam.’
“ ‘That the United States knew these individuals were going to be sent to grave danger despite an immigration judge order, and still refused to take any action is outrageous. It seems evident that the United States has concocted a scheme to use third countries to circumvent what the United States cannot do directly,’ Gelernt said.”
