A 58-year-old Maryland woman has described her utter shock after being deported to a country she claims to have no connection with and had never even visited before.
Rabbiatu Kuyateh, who originally fled the Sierra Leone civil war three decades ago, was sent to Ghana earlier this month after being detained during her routine annual check-in with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Shocking Video Evidence Emerges
Since her deportation, disturbing footage has surfaced on social media showing the grandmother being dragged across the floor by individuals she believes were Ghanaian government employees.
The widely circulated video depicts people in green uniforms pulling Kuyateh on her stomach while holding her wrists, apparently to load her onto a bus bound for Sierra Leone. She is now staying at an undisclosed location in Sierra Leone.
Kuyateh told NBC 4 that she attempted to resist what she described as violent manhandling. 'That's when they dragged me. They bumped the back of my head,' she stated. Photographs seen by NBC appear to show injuries to her head that she says were sustained during this altercation.
Family's Heartbreak and Legal Battle
Mohamed Alghali, Kuyateh's son, said his mother's detention came completely unexpectedly and that he felt 'defeated' when they were separated. '[It] felt like I failed my mom,' he emotionally recounted to the outlet.
He recalled the devastating moment she was taken: 'They called her to the back. They said, "Yeah Rabbiatu, you have a order of removal. So, we're, you know, yeah, we're detaining you." I mean, my heart just broke.'
Hannah Bridges, Kuyateh's attorney, asserted that her client's human rights were violated during the deportation process. 'I don't think anyone expected her to be detained, just because nothing had changed with her circumstances,' Bridges explained.
According to her lawyer, Kuyateh spent several days in Maryland ICE's temporary holding area before being transferred to a facility in Louisiana where she remained for several months. Throughout this period, all requests for court hearings 'went unacknowledged.'
Legal Complexities and International Ramifications
Bridges emphasised that Kuyateh 'should have been given notice and an opportunity to seek protection from removal to a third country.' She added that 'The government had multiple opportunities to do this.'
In a significant legal development last September, a judge ruled that Kuyateh could not be deported to Sierra Leone, where the 58-year-old grandmother had previously suffered torture, according to her attorney.
Despite this protection, she was sent to Ghana and spent six days in a hotel before the bus arrived to transport her to Sierra Leone.
The Sierra Leone High Commission in Ghana has acknowledged the allegations and plans to investigate the matter.
Kuyateh, who worked as a nurse in the US on a work permit but never obtained citizenship, told NBC: 'I consider America my home. It's like, I built relationships there.'
Her case raises significant concerns about deportees being sent to Ghana, particularly after the US Department of Justice stated in September that Ghana had pledged not to send deportees back to their home countries.
The DOJ also argued it had no authority to control how another country treats deportees. However, the United Nations human rights office has called on Ghana to stop sending US deportees back to countries deemed dangerous by American courts.
Alghali expressed his belief that the United States had failed his mother. 'Yes, one hundred percent. I felt like they've been failing her,' he stated.
The family's situation highlights the complex nature of immigration cases, where Kuyateh's son was born in the United States and her parents became citizens, while she remained on a work permit despite building her life in Maryland for thirty years.
