The Trump administration’s mass deportation plan continues to cause anxiety throughout Atlanta’s Black immigrant community — even among those who have legal status.
“The fear is real,” said Nnamdi Ihenacho, founder of the Atlanta-based nonprofit African Immigrant Collective.
“Even people who have their papers are still worried about, ‘can my citizenship be revoked?’ ‘Can my green card be revoked?’”
While the fear of being held at one of the many Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers under inhumane conditions still looms large, unlawful deportation is another possibility. In those cases, local immigrants could be sent thousands of miles away from their families, oftentimes to countries where they have no connection.
Over the weekend, five men — three from Nigeria and two from the Gambia — were deported to their home countries despite a federal judge having granted them either a withholding of removal order under the Immigration and Nationality Act or a deferral of removal under the United Nations Convention Against Torture.
Since Sept. 5, they have been held at a Ghanaian detention camp where they were sent after being held in different ICE detention facilities across the country.
Last week, the Atlanta chapter of Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ); the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project; and the law firm Grossman, Young, and Hammond filed a lawsuit on the men’s behalf to prevent them from being repatriated due to the significant risk of harm they face in their home countries.
U.S. District Court Judge Tanya S. Chutkan declined to intervene on behalf of the men because they had been transferred to the custody of the Ghanaian government.
“[The court] is alarmed and dismayed by the circumstances under which these removals are being carried out, especially in light of the government’s cavalier acceptance of Plaintiffs’ ultimate transfer to countries where they face torture and persecution. But its hands are tied,” she wrote in her ruling denying a temporary restraining order or temporary relief.
The men, who are only named in the lawsuit under their first and last initials to protect their identities, were being held under armed guard at Dema Camp in a remote part of Ghana with six other West African men before they were sent back to their home countries.
After the lawsuit was filed last week, Ghana’s Minister of Government Communications Felix Kwakye Ofosu told the Associated Press that the men had already been repatriated to their home countries, but AAAJ disputed that claim.
The fight to bring the men back to the United States is still ongoing, according to Samantha Hamilton, an Atlanta-based attorney with AAAJ who is part of the team litigating this case.
“We believe the judge can order the U.S. government to facilitate their return to the U.S., as other judges presiding over third-country removal cases have done,” Hamilton told Capital B Atlanta.
One plaintiff, who was named in the lawsuit as D.A., had been granted relief based on his membership in a political party that is in opposition to the current government.
“His immigration paperwork included a very detailed declaration describing his torture by the police and military while he was still living in Nigeria,” Hamilton said.
Another plaintiff, named in the lawsuit as K.S., is openly bisexual and was granted deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture because in his home country, the Gambia, same-sex activity is criminalized and carries a penalty of life in prison.
Hamilton said AAAJ hopes that whatever relief they are able to get for the men named in the lawsuit will also eventually be extended to the six other men who were also sent to their countries of origin over the weekend.
“One of the things we’ve always loved about America is it’s a nation of laws and due process,” Ihenacho said. “It’s a place where even the little guy gets his day in court. And if we’re not protected under that system, that’s about as un-American as it gets.”
