Federal officials deported a Mali-born man residing in Texas to Ghana because an immigration judge ruled that he could face persecution in his native country.
However, Ghanaian officials sent Moussa Diawara to Mali shortly after he arrived in the West African country, CBS News reports.
Mr. Diawara, a 57-year-old Uber driver, lived with his wife and two children in the Houston area before being picked up by immigration agents over the summer.
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Mr. Diawara arrived in the U.S. at age 32 and overstayed his tourist visa.
He had been eligible for deportation since 2012, but a U.S. immigration judge ruled that he could not be sent back to Mali due to safety concerns. Mr. Diawara converted to Christianity in the States.
Mali is Muslim-majority nation with Islamist extremist groups operating in rural areas.
But the judge did rule that Mr. Diawara could be removed to a different country, so U.S. officials sent the Texas resident to Ghana. Once he arrived in Ghana, he said local authorities locked him in a hotel, surrounded by armed guards, and then flew him back to Mali.
“I cannot call my wife, I can’t contact my lawyer. I can’t talk to no one,” Mr. Diawara told CBS News’ “60 Minutes.”
“I tell them, ’This is kidnapping. You guys kidnapped us,’” he said.
The deportee said he arrived in Mali with no identification or money. He said he escaped the country to a neighboring nation, which he asked not to be disclosed, after spending multiple weeks in his native land.
Mr. Diawara also said a medical form and luggage tags on his federal overseas flight acknowledged he was eventually bound for Mali. The Department of Homeland Security told CBS News that was a “clerical error” handled by a contractor.
“Well, he wasn’t flown to Mali,” James Percival, DHS’s top lawyer, told “60 Minutes.” “He was flown to Ghana, but I can’t speak to why that piece of paper says that.”
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