Deported to Ghana, sent on to Mali: 60 Minutes case puts third-country removals under scrutiny as ICE pushes back

A CBS 60 Minutes investigation that aired on Sunday says a Texas father shielded by a US judge from deportation to Mali ended up there within days of being deported to Ghana instead — and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) pushed back against the report on Monday.

Moussa Diawara, 57, had lived in the United States for 25 years with no criminal record, according to the programme. He was detained by ICE agents at his home near Houston on 11 July and deported to Ghana on 31 July, a country he says he had never visited. In 2012, a US immigration judge ruled he could be deported, but not to Mali, where he said he faced persecution after converting to Christianity — a protection known as withholding of removal.

Diawara told 60 Minutes that Ghanaian officials held him under armed guard in a hotel, then forced him onto a flight to Mali within five days, leaving him without money or identification. He spent three weeks homeless and in hiding there before escaping to another country with the help of truck drivers. His attorney has asked a federal judge in Washington, D.C., to order his return.

The programme said 17 of the 19 people it reached who were sent to Ghana on Diawara’s 63-person flight said Ghana sent them onward against their will to countries US judges had ruled they should not be returned to, including Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Gambia and Guinea.

The Department of Homeland Security said Ghana had given diplomatic assurances about Diawara’s safety, called the Mali-listed baggage tags contractor-produced and the medical form listing Mali a clerical error, and said its top lawyer was not aware of cases in which Ghana sent people onward against their will. Ghana’s government declined to comment.

On Monday, ICE disputed the programme’s framing, saying Diawara had a final order of removal and alleging he had claimed to be homosexual to avoid deportation — a claim the programme did not put to him on air. (CBS 60 Minutes transcript | Focal News | MEAWW on ICE response)