November 17, 2025
The woman reportedly feared for her life as she was forced into a detention center upon arriving to Ghana.
A West African woman reportedly tried to commit suicide after being deported to a non-native country in the region due to a Trump order.
The woman reportedly attempted to take her own life while she was in custody for the forced deportation to Ghana, despite not being a native citizen. Her deportation follows a growing list of others, particularly Black migrants, removed from the United States under the Trump administration’s sweeping deportation efforts.
Immigration officials have signed deals with several African nations, including Ghana, Rwanda, and South Sudan, to facilitate the passage of African migrants through their territories. However, the Trump administration has garnered significant backlash over its alleged handling of migrants, including shipping them off to these countries regardless of their native roots.
This third-country deportation program has already sparked international concern by global human rights organizations, especially as some deportees are imprisoned in these nations’ jail systems upon arrival. Furthermore, concerns about their safety if returned to these nations have led U.S. judges to impose legal blocks.
Several other fellow deportees taken with the woman have also endured transfers in secret, according to Ana Dionne-Lanier, an attorney for one of the deported people.
While countries that are part of these agreements promised to ensure deportees’ safety within their borders, Dionne-Lanier told Capital B News that this is an unregulated provision. Upon arriving in Ghana, her clients and the woman stayed in a hotel with limited phone access before being taken to a detention camp.
Given the alleged conditions and safety concerns of this classified deportation measure, the West African woman opted to no longer be on this earth than stomach the inhumane ordeal. The woman was immediately hospitalized following the attempt.
Dionne-Lanier also suggested that the woman drastically feared for her life once she returned.
“The risk of being removed back to her own country was too much for the person,” explained the attorney.
However, her client had legal cause to be in the U.S. without typical immigration documents. He had won a “withholding for removal” before an immigration court, as he proved that he would face potential persecution or torture if returned to his native country. Under U.S. law, the government cannot return individuals to countries under these stipulations.
However, the Trump administration has allegedly been bypassing this order to continue its mass deportation policies. Sweeping criticism of the new policy, including concerns about constitutional violations and safety risks to migrants, continues in the U.S. and West Africa.
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