ICE deported Texas dad to Ghana because home country was unsafe; Ghana sent him anyway | 60 Minutes

Nearly 1 million people were deported from the US during the first year and a half of President Trump's second term. Most were returned to their country of origin. About 25,000 though, were sent somewhere else. Places where they may have never been and may not speak the language. They're called third countries because they're not the US and not the person's home country. Iranians were sent to Panama. Cubans to the Central African Republic. Deportations like these can be legal and past administrations have carried them out. But not at this scale. Our five-month investigation uncovered cases in which people ended up in places where US immigration judges said they would likely be persecuted or tortured. >> So ambitious. >> On July 11th, Moussa Diowara, who's been in the US for 25 years with no criminal record, was wrapping up his night shift as an Uber driver. Heading to the home in the Houston suburbs he owns with his wife and children who are US citizens.

But when he pulled up, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were waiting for him. >> So we got a warrant for your arrest of a removal outside of the US. Okay? >> After 3 weeks in ICE detention in Texas without being able to speak to his lawyer or a judge, he was put on a plane and deported to West Africa. And that's where we met him two months after his arrest. Thousands of miles away from his Texas home. >> For me it was like a in in nightmare. That's like a oh my god, what's that happen? >> It just didn't feel real. >> I still say myself, this is a real? This is this is me? >> 25 years ago, Diowara entered the US and overstayed a tourist visa. He applied for refugee protection arguing he would be persecuted if he were returned to Mali, the war-torn African country he's from. In 2012, a US immigration judge ruled he could be deported, but not to Mali. As a result of the ruling, he was able to get a US work permit.

Past administrations rarely deported people in Diawara's situation. But as part of the Trump administration's mass deportation operation, ICE has deported 25,000 people to dozens of third countries that in return receive millions of dollars in aid or other benefits from the US. On July 31st, Diawara landed in a place he'd never been. Ghana. He says that he and others were detained in this hotel by armed guards and not allowed to make phone calls. >> I cannot call my wife. I can't contact my lawyer. I can't talk to no one. I tell them this is a kidnapping. You guys kidnap us. >> Do you have any connection to Ghana? >> I don't have any connection. >> know anyone there? >> I don't know no one to Ghana. >> Within 5 days, Diawara says Ghanaian officials forced him onto a flight to the very country a US judge said he could not be deported to. Mali.

This is where he was when we first managed to contact him in August. Homeless and in hiding in Mali. >> I don't feel safe here at all. >> Part of the reason he didn't feel safe, he told us, is that he'd converted to Christianity. Mali's a Muslim majority nation with an Islamist insurgency. Diawara told us he was dropped here with no money or ID. >> That bench is my bed for the last 2 weeks. Uh, this is ours. Oh. >> After 3 weeks in Mali, with the help of some local truckers, he escaped to another African country which he asked us not to disclose. >> A little bit different than a Texas grocery store. >> Oh, yes. No, big difference.

For me, America was everything. I call America my home because I'm a 57 now. I moved to America when I was 32. I don't know nowhere. >> The US government's position is that you overstayed your visa. You were in the country illegally for a period of time. That they had an order of deportation. They couldn't send you to Mali, but they could send you to a third country, and that's what happened. >> They can send me to third country, but not back to my country of origin. Isn't that's what they do? They do something wrong. >> In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security told us Ghana had provided the US with diplomatic assurances for his safety. DHS also questioned the credibility of Diawara's arguments for fearing persecution in Mali. >> You know, I think a lot of people who make fear claims do not make credible ones. There's a lot of fraud there. And so, if somebody found themselves in a different country and decided they'd rather go home, then that's their decision.

>> James Percival, the top lawyer for the Department of Homeland Security, told us third country deportations are widely misunderstood. >> I absolutely believe with all of my heart that these third country removals have stopped crimes from happening and kept Americans safer, and that is our fundamental obligation of the Department of Homeland Security. >> Why does the US deport people to third countries? >> So, like one example is somebody maybe they're a serious criminal, and the country just won't take them back. Another is sometimes aliens get a country-specific form of relief, where the immigration judge says you need to leave the United States, but you have to go somewhere other than your home country. >> When an immigration judge rules that someone cannot safely be sent back to their home country, it's called withholding of removal. Moussa Diawara had that protection. So did dozens of others on his deportation flight. We obtained the names of all 63 people on Diawara's flight, which left Texas on July 30th and stopped in Sierra Leone, the Central African Republic, and Ghana.

17 of the 19 people we reached who were sent to Ghana told us the same thing. Ghana quickly transported them against their will to countries that US immigration judges had ruled they should not be returned to. >> Are you aware of cases where Ghana has sent people against their will to a country, their home country, where they have a withholding of removal? >> aware of any such cases. >> Do you think these people are voluntarily going back? >> Either they would choose to go home, and they might not always be truthful about the fact that they consented, so that's one possibility. The other possibility is that the foreign government applied their own procedures, and consistent with international law, determined that it was acceptable to return them home. >> I mean, what we have seen in case after case, in one flight we looked into, almost every single person on the flight, within days after arriving in Ghana, were sent back to their home country where a US judge has said it is more than likely that they will face persecution or torture. >> I think I already answered this question. Number one, um they can always consent to go home, and that may very well be what occurred.

And number two, >> what's happening, right? They're clearly not consenting. I don't know if you've seen this video of a woman being dragged her deportation flight to her home country where she had a withholding of removal. She is resisting. Have you seen this video? >> not seen that video. >> An eyewitness confirmed those are Ghanaian officials pulling this woman, Rabiatu Kuyateh, a nurse who lived in the US for 30 years. Do you think the US knew that you would end up in Mali? >> 100%. >> Why? Diallo showed us a document he says US officials gave him on the deportation flight along with a small supply of his medication. >> They say here destination S H R C Mali. >> S H R C stands for special high-risk charter, referring to the kind of flight he was on. >> So, they know 100% I'm going to Mali. >> It doesn't say Ghana. >> It does say Mali. Ma'am, right here. >> And so do both of his DHS-issued bag tags. to Mali.

It says destination Mali. >> Well, he wasn't flown to Molly. He was he was flown to Ghana. So, I but I can't speak to why that piece of paper says >> What he says is he thinks the US government, you know, coordinated this or at a minimum was aware of it. >> I can just say I was I was not aware of that. Um I that is not my understanding of how this works. >> After our interview, DHS sent this statement saying the bag tags were produced by contractors who are not part of the process that determines the destination. And the medication form, they said, was a clerical error. Ghana's government declined to comment. >> Seems like you're very focused on Ghana. Do you want to talk about any of the other countries? >> Sure. Sierra Leone, when folks arrive, they receive a pamphlet. The pamphlet says Sierra Leone is serving as a temporary transit location while arrangements are made to return you to your country of origin. >> Again, they are entitled to return to their home country if they consent. They are also entitled to process the fear claim as we discussed. >> There's no way the US officials don't know what Ghana is doing to people that the US supports there. His immigration attorney, Meredith Yeung, says the US government was warned about Ghana's conduct in a lawsuit last year. Despite this, the US sent 10 more flights to Ghana, which Yeung believes is a violation of international law. Why do you think the US violated international law? If they didn't send Musa straight to Molly, they sent him to Ghana, who sent him to Molly. They sent him to Ghana with full knowledge that Ghana is

systematically deporting refugees back to the very countries they fled. >> I just sort of wonder if the US government is is sort of looking the other way when there's evidence in front of them. >> I mean, I think you've asked me the same question about five times. I'd really like to talk about the public safety threats associated with this population of aliens and the fact that every administration before President Trump absolutely abdicated their responsibility to the American people by letting criminals back on the street and doing no diplomatic efforts to get these people out of our country. >> Percival says third countries like Eswatini and South Sudan have agreed to accept these with criminal records for first-degree murder, armed robbery, kidnapping, and sexual assault when their home countries refuse to take them back. >> What percentage of folks who have been detained and deported are violent offenders? >> I don't have that figure off the top of my head. >> Of the 63 people on Diawara's flight to Africa, we found a criminal charge or conviction for 19%, including theft, assault, drugs, and weapons possession. For everyone else, we found either traffic violations or no criminal record at all.

>> What our reporting also reveals, though, is that a lot of these people are nurses, they're moms, they're Uber drivers. Is that part of what this administration is trying to do? Remove these folks. >> This administration is following the law that Congress has passed. Um there are a lot of people in this population that we talk about who have committed very serious crimes, and people should be very happy with President Trump for getting these serious criminals out of the country. >> I am not a criminal. I'm raising two child. I'm a I'm a married man, and I'm working and paying taxes. >> Last month, a federal appeals court upheld a ruling in a class action lawsuit that found the Trump administration's third-country policy unlawful because it denied deportees due process. But the Supreme Court has allowed these deportations to continue until it hears the case in December. >> We're doing everything that we can. >> As for Moussa Diawara, his attorney has asked a federal judge in DC to order him returned to the US.

Back in Texas, Diawara's family is waiting for him. His wife Barbara works full-time as a registered nurse. Their son Corey is 16, and their daughter Chloe, 12. >> Hello guys. >> Oh my god, we're so happy to see you. Look at your daughter. >> Oh hi guys. Chloe, how's school? >> Good. >> I got a 100 on the test review. >> Good. You got 100? >> Your dad had a big presence in your day-to-day life here. >> Yeah, it feels really empty without him. >> And Chloe, I know you were really close with your dad. How are you feeling? >> Um not really great. Like he was always making me feel like better. >> Do you worry about your mom right now? >> I worry about my mom a lot. >> I'm trying, you know, not to cry in front of Dad. To be strong for Dad. Because they need me.

>> Corey, listen to Mommy, okay? >> Okay. >> And don't forget every Sunday you need to vacuum the carpet upstairs, okay? >> Okay. >> I love you guys so much. Bye. >> Love you. Good night. Bye-bye. >> Bye. >> Bye, Dad.