Key Points
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Judge slams Trump deportations to Ghana but dismisses case.
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Legal limits prevent courts from halting federal deportations.
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Advocates warn unchecked powers risk future immigration abuses.
A federal judge in New York criticized the Trump administration’s deportations of Ghanaian immigrants, calling them “deeply troubling” and “lacking humanity.” However, she said that her court did not have the authority to hear the lawsuit against the practice.
On Monday in Manhattan, U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla made the decision in a case brought by immigrant rights groups on behalf of dozens of Ghanaians who were deported between 2018 and 2020. Failla said she understood the plaintiffs’ worries, but she also made it clear that immigration law made it very hard for the courts to get involved.
Judge says Trump’s deportations to Ghana are wrong
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the African Services Committee, and lawyers from NYU School of Law’s Immigrant Rights Clinic, led by Alina Das, filed the lawsuit. They said that deportees were not given due process because they were often put on planes without enough hearings, notice, or access to a lawyer.
Kwame Boadu, a Ghanaian father of two U.S.-born children, was one of the plaintiffs. He said he was held for weeks without being told why before being sent back to Ghana. The groups said that dozens of similar cases showed that Trump’s “zero tolerance” policies led to abuse in the system.
Judge Failla said that the stories painted a “disturbing picture” of immigration enforcement, but he also said that the law gave the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement a lot of freedom. She said, “Even when deportations raise serious concerns about fairness, the laws don’t let this court stop them.”
Legal barriers make it hard for the court to do its job
Once DHS officials sign a removal order, most courts can’t review it. This means that challenges can only be based on narrow constitutional claims. The Justice Department, represented by U.S. Attorney Damian Williams’s office in Manhattan, said that the lawsuit didn’t have any legal basis and that deportations were “carried out according to established procedures.”
According to a report by reuters, Steven Choi, the New York Immigration Coalition’s executive director, said the decision showed that “executive power in immigration remains unchecked.” He asked Congress to look again at laws that limit judicial oversight.
More people are upset about Trump’s deportations to Ghana
Trump’s deportations to Ghana were part of a larger effort to crack down on immigration. This included bans on people from several African countries and longer detention times. At the time, Ghana’s government, led by President Nana Akufo-Addo, made quiet complaints to U.S. officials, saying that mass deportations hurt diplomatic relations.
Andrea Flores, a former immigration adviser in the Obama White House who now works for the Carnegie Endowment, said the case showed the “longstanding imbalance between executive authority and judicial review.” She said that Biden’s policies have made removals less common, but she warned that “the next administration could bring back Trump-style deportations overnight” if the law isn’t changed.
