Malian man with U.S. withholding order says Ghana forced him to Mali after ICE deportation
CBS News reports Moussa Diawara, 57, was deported to Ghana on July 31 despite a 2012 order barring removal to Mali, then forced onto a flight back to Mali, he says.
The story in focus
CBS News reports that Moussa Diawara, a 57-year-old Malian national and longtime Texas resident, was deported by ICE to Ghana on July 31 despite a 2012 immigration judge's withholding-of-removal order barring his deportation to Mali. Diawara says Ghanaian officials then forced him onto a flight to Mali, where he feared persecution.
- Diawara, 57, lived in the U.S. for nearly half his life and has two U.S.-citizen children.
- A 2012 immigration judge's withholding-of-removal order barred his deportation to Mali.
- DHS's top lawyer told CBS Diawara was flown to Ghana and could not explain why a medical form and DHS-issued bag tags listed Mali.
- A DHS spokesperson called the medical form a clerical error; Ghana's government declined to comment.
- CBS's 60 Minutes reported 17 of 19 deportees it reached from Diawara's flight said they were subsequently sent against their will to countries U.S. judges had ruled they should not be returned to.
Deportation and disputed destination
Moussa Diawara, 57, came to the U.S. on a tourist visa at 32 and overstayed. He later sought refugee protection, arguing he would be persecuted in Mali after converting to Christianity in a Muslim-majority nation with an Islamist insurgency. In 2012, a U.S. immigration judge ruled he could not be deported to Mali but that the U.S. could find a safe alternative. CBS News reports ICE deported him to Ghana on July 31.
Diawara says Ghanaian officials detained him and others in a hotel with armed guards and no phone calls, then forced him onto a flight to Mali. A medical document on the flight to Ghana listed the destination as "SHRC Mali," and DHS-issued bag tags also listed Mali, CBS reported. DHS's top lawyer, James Percival, told CBS Diawara was flown to Ghana and could not explain why the paper said Mali. A DHS spokesperson called the medical form a clerical error and said the bag tags were produced by contractors not involved in determining destinations. Ghana's government declined to comment.
Broader third-country deportations
CBS's 60 Minutes reported that 17 of 19 deportees it reached from Diawara's flight said they were subsequently sent against their will to countries U.S. immigration judges had ruled they should not be returned to, including Niger, Mali, Nigeria, Gambia and Guinea. DHS says Ghana provided diplomatic assurances for Diawara's safety and questioned his fear of persecution in Mali.
A federal appeals court upheld a ruling that the third-country policy was unlawful because it denied deportees due process, but the Supreme Court has allowed the deportations to continue until it hears the case in December. Diawara's attorney has asked a federal judge in Washington, D.C., to order his return to the U.S.
What did a 2012 immigration judge rule about Moussa Diawara's deportation?
The judge ruled Diawara could not be deported to Mali because he was likely to be persecuted there, but that the U.S. could find a safe alternative country if it wanted to remove him.
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