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ACCRA: Ghana is accepting west Africans deported from the United States, Ghanaian President John Mahama said Wednesday.
Deporting people to third countries — in many cases places they’ve never lived — has been a hallmark of US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants, notably by sending hundreds to a notorious prison in El Salvador.
Mahama told reporters Wednesday that Ghana had agreed to take in nationals from west Africa, where a regional agreement allows visa-free travel.
“We were approached by the US to accept third-party nationals who were being removed from the US. And we agreed with them that west African nationals were acceptable,” Mahama said.
He said a “first batch” of 14 people had come to Ghana, including “several” Nigerians who have since returned to their home countries though he did not provide a timeline for when that occurred. Another arrived from The Gambia.
Ghana has long been home to Nigerian immigrants, though recent weeks have seen sporadic anti-Nigerian protests in several cities where groups of demonstrators demanded their expulsion, blaming them for rising crime, prostitution and unfair economic competition.
In late July, Nigeria sent a special envoy and its foreign ministry urged calm while Ghanaian and Nigerian officials held talks to defuse tensions.

Deal comes amid tariff, visa pressure 

The deportation agreement comes as Washington has hiked tariffs on Ghanaian goods and restricted visas issued to its nationals.
Mahama described relations between Accra and Washington as “tightening,” though he said relations remained positive.
Neighbouring Nigeria, for its part, has pushed back against accepting third-party deportees.
“The US is mounting considerable pressure on African countries to accept Venezuelans to be deported from the US, some straight out of prisons,” Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar said in an interview with local broadcaster Channels Television in July.
“It will be difficult for Nigeria to accept Venezuelan prisoners,” he said, going on to suggest that recent tariff threats were related to the issue of deportations.
In an unprecedented move, Trump has overseen the deportation of hundreds of people to Panama, including some who were sent away before they could have their asylum applications processed.
Hundreds have also been sent to El Salvador, with the US administration invoking an 18th century law to remove people it has accused of being Venezuelan gang members.
Some were sent despite US judges ordering the planes carrying them to turn around.
The White House has also deported third-country nationals to South Sudan, a war-torn, impoverished country.

LONDON: British trade unions have demanded that the UK government reverses its ban on a pro-Palestinian protest group.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government proscribed Palestine Action under antiterrorism laws in July after members of the group allegedly damaged jets at a military base.

Public displays of support for the group are outlawed under the ban, as a result of which hundreds of protesters have been arrested at demonstrations over the summer, including more than 800 in London last weekend alone.

Delegates at the annual conference of the Trades Union Congress, which concluded in Brighton on Wednesday, voted unanimously to demand that the government “repeal the authoritarian proscription of Palestine Action.”

The decision by the TUC, a federation that represents 47 unions with about 5.5 million members, is the latest sign of growing tensions over the conflict in Gaza between Starmer’s government and left-wing groups traditionally allied with the Labour Party. Many Labour MPs are also angry about the lack of tough action from UK authorities against Israel.

The TUC call for the ban on Palestinian Action to be overturned was part of an amendment to a broader motion calling on UK authorities to help secure an urgent ceasefire agreement and facilitate the delivery of aid into Gaza.

The amendment was proposed by the Public and Commercial Services Union, which represents civil servants. It also called for the government to “uphold and strengthen the right to peaceful protest, following the arrest of activists.”

Martin Cavanagh, president of the PCSU, said: “We believe this proscription represents a significant abuse of counterterrorism powers and a direct attack on our rights to protest against the genocidal Israeli regime.

“Since the proscription, it is clear that the policing has been particularly heavy-handed."