The United States said on Thursday it was imposing visa restrictions on Ghana, accusing the African country of not cooperating in accepting its citizens ordered removed from the United States.
In a statement , U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “has ordered consular officers in Ghana to implement visa restrictions on certain categories of visa applicants,”
“Without an appropriate response from Ghana, the scope of these sanctions may be expanded to a wider population,” the statement said.
“Ghana has failed to live up to its obligations under international law to accept the return of its nationals ordered removed from the United States,” said DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said.
“We hope the Ghanaian government will work with us to reconcile these deficiencies quickly,” she said.
A 2017 annual report by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the DHS agency tasked with removing people, said 305 people from Ghana were slated to be repatriated from Oct. 1, 2016, through Sept. 30, 2017. More recent data was not available and it’s not clear how many people Ghana refused to take back in 2018.
DHS threatened to expand the visa sanctions to additional visa groups if Ghana continues to refuse repatriated people.
