Overview

• U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered a same-day filing detailing steps to ensure migrants sent to Ghana are not relocated to countries where they fear persecution or torture.
• In a court response, the Justice Department said the U.S. no longer has custody of the migrants, argued the court cannot direct diplomatic actions, and cited a recent Supreme Court decision allowing third-country removals.
• Plaintiffs say 14 West Africans were flown on Sept. 5 to Accra on a U.S. military cargo plane, some allegedly in straitjackets with all shackled and given bread and water, then held at Ghana’s Dema Camp; a DHS official disputed the straitjacket claim.
• Attorneys reported that one plaintiff was already transferred from Ghana to The Gambia and is in hiding, while four others face imminent removal despite U.S. immigration judges’ protections.
• Ghana’s president confirmed an agreement to receive West African deportees, highlighting the administration’s broader third-country transfer strategy now under active legal challenge.