Thread: 40 Ghanaians deported from US, 12 from Saudi Arabia

Monday, 19 August 2019
Source: citinewsroom.com

40 Ghanaians deported from US, 12 from Saudi Arabia

The deportees arrived on board a chartered flight Omni Air International flight from the US

The United States of America has deported 40 Ghanaians for engaging in various criminal activities and immigration-related issues.

A statement from the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) noted that 12 Ghanaian women have also been deported from Saudi Arabia for illegal stay.

“The Ghanaians [deported from the US] aged between 21-70 comprising thirty-eight males and two females were deported for various offences ranging from trafficking of banned substances, assault, vehicle theft, burglary, fraud, domestic violence and immigration-related issue.”

They arrived on board a chartered flight Omni Air International flight from the US.

According to the statement, 38 of them arrived on Travel Certificate issued by the Ghana Mission in Washington DC, whilst two of them travelled on Ghanaian passports.

The deportees are from various regions in Ghana with 16 from Greater Accra, 10 from Ashanti, two from Bono, two from Western, two from Central, three from Eastern and three from Volta.

They were admitted into Ghana by the Immigration Service with other security agencies present “who ensured that the deportees were transported to the respective destinations.”

For the deportees from Saudi Arabia, the women’s ages ranged from 20 to 30 years.

They are mostly junior and senior high school graduates and were working as domestic helps, storekeepers and fuel attendants.

In various interviews with the GIS, some of them said they were made to overwork and their salaries were withheld by their employers and were not also properly fed as well as maltreated.

They have since been handed over to the Bureau of National Investigations for further action.

According to the statement, “some of the ladies claimed in an interview that they were made to over-work, had their salaries with-held, and were not properly fed and maltreated by their host.”

They have since been handed over to the Bureau of National Investigations for further action.

https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePa...Arabia-773360#

Ghana gives in to U.S. pressure after visa restrictions, 40 out of 7,000 nationals deported

August 20, 2019 at 03:10 pm | NEWS
ISMAIL AKWEI | Head of Content

Ghana's president Nana Akufo-Addo and U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington


40 Ghanaian nationals have arrived in Accra, Ghana’s capital, on Monday after deportation from the United States for various offences ranging from drug trafficking, assault, vehicle theft, burglary, fraud, domestic violence and immigration-related issues.
The country’s immigration service confirmed the deportation in a statement saying 38 of the deportees arrived on Travel Certificate issued by the Ghana Mission in Washington, D.C., and the other two travelled on Ghanaian passports.

The issuance of Travel Certificates to deportees by the Ghana Mission comes six months after the U.S. government imposed visa restrictions on Ghana for failure to issue the travel documents for Ghanaians under deportation orders to depart the U.S. on commercial flights.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement on February 1, 2019, that the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has ordered the U.S. Embassy in Ghana to discontinue issuing all non-immigrant visas (NIV) to two groups of Ghanaian applicants starting from February 4, 2019.

The affected applicants are domestic employees of Ghanaian diplomats posted in the United States. There is also a limitation placed on “the validity period and the number of entries on new tourist and business visas for all Ghanaian executive and legislative branch employees, their spouses, and their children under 21 to one-month, single-entry visas”.

The DHS also added that: “Without an appropriate response from Ghana, the scope of these sanctions may be expanded to a wider population.”

The Government of Ghana did not issue any statement when an earlier threat was issued in June 2018 by the U.S. Embassy in Ghana and when the visa restrictions were imposed in 2019.

Since December 2016, “the U.S. government has repeatedly engaged the Government of Ghana in both Washington, D.C., and Accra and has urged the government to abide by its international obligations and issue the necessary travel documents so that Ghanaians under deportation orders may depart the United States on commercial flights.

“If Ghana fails to comply with international obligations regarding the issuance of travel documents, the United States may be forced to begin implementing visa restrictions on Ghana, in accordance with U.S. law,” said the Public Affairs department of the U.S Embassy in June 2018.

U.S. Ambassador Robert P. Jackson welcoming guests to a reception at his residence in Accra, Ghana.

The U.S. Ambassador to Ghana at the time, Robert P. Jackson had earlier revealed that over 7,000 Ghanaians were in the process of being deported from the U.S. for various immigration offences.

“First, we are talking about 7,000, not 60,000 Ghanaians who are in various stages of being deported from the United States and on that issue just as we have a responsibility to patrol our borders, countries around the world have a responsibility to issue travel documents to their citizens so that they can return to those countries,” he said at an event in Accra.

The Ghana government did not issue any statement with regard to the U.S. position, but a cross-section of Ghanaians used the media to condemn the threats and called on the government not to budge.

Ambassador Jackson responded to the comments saying: “The statement that the embassy issued saying that Ghana could face visa sanctions is not a threat, and I don’t want it to be a threat. What I want is for the embassy of Ghana in the United States to interview one person facing deportation and issue one travel document every business day. If the Embassy does that, we will solve this problem.

“Just as Ghana deports people, the United States also have the right to deport people. I’ve been talking with the government of Ghana about this for over two years … I am acting on instructions. This is not something I am initiating. We will enforce our immigration laws,” he added.

The 40 Ghanaians who were deported are aged between 21 and 70 years and they are made up of 38 males and two females, says the Ghana Immigration Service. They arrived on board a chartered flight, Omni Air International Boeing 777 – OAE 328.

They were allowed into the country after going through disembarkation formalities including screening by security agencies to authenticate their nationalities.

https://face2faceafrica.com/article/...onals-deported

10/8/18

No agreement with US over 7,000 deportation plan