The United States of America has deported 642 Ghanaians convicted of various offences, including acts that undermined border control and the integrity of the US immigration system, in three years.
A report on the activities of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in the 2018 fiscal year said the Ghanaians were deported between 2016 and 2018.
According to the report, 94 Ghanaians were deported from the USA in 2016. In the year 2017, the number of Ghanaians deported from the USA witnessed an astronomical 69.1 per cent jump to 305.
However, in 2018, the number of Ghanaians deported from the USA dropped to 243, a decrease of 25.5 per cent.
Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) identifies, arrests and removes aliens who present a danger to national security or a threat to public safety, or who otherwise undermine border control and the integrity of the US immigration system. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), on the other hand, shares responsibility for administering and enforcing the nation’s immigration laws with US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The removal of African migrants went up – in some cases, more than doubling. Despite a six per cent drop in overall removals, there was a significant rise in removal of migrants from countries such as Gambia, Niger, and Senegal.
On January 25, 2017, President Donald J. Trump issued an Executive Order, Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States. It set forth the administration’s immigration enforcement and removal priorities.
Ghana and the United States of America are in a tussle over plans to deport over 7,000 Ghanaians from the US to Ghana.
While the USA said Ghana has since 2016 not adequately co-operated to provide travel documents for the affected persons, Ghana disagrees.
This year, the US imposed visa restrictions from February 4, 2019 as its embassy in Accra discontinued issuing all non-immigrant visas (NIV) to domestic employees (A3 and G5) of Ghanaian diplomats posted to the US.
But, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration expressed disappointment with the decision by the United States to implement visa sanctions on Ghana for alleged lack of adequate co-operation in accepting Ghanaian nationals ordered removed from the US.
It said those allegations were unfounded, and the sanctions imposed on Ghana were without any justification.
Source: Fiilafmonline/GW
