The United States has on Thursday said it was imposing visa restrictions on Ghana due to lack of cooperation in accepting their nationals ordered removed from the United States.
In an official statement, the department of homeland security (DHS) said the US secretary of state Mike Pompeo “has ordered consular officers in Ghana to implement visa restrictions on certain categories of visa applicants.”
The DHS statement stated, “Without an appropriate response from Ghana, the scope of these sanctions may be expanded to a wider population.”
According to GhanaWeb news reports, pursuant to her authority under Section 243(d) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), secretary of homeland security Kirstjen Nielsen notified Pompeo that the government of Ghana has unreasonably delayed or rejected accepting their nationals ordered removed from the US.
She stated that Ghana has failed to live up its obligations under international law to accept the return of its nationals ordered removed from the United States.
The DHS secretary said, “We hope the Ghanaian government will work with us to reconcile these deficiencies quickly.”
Nielsen said, “The United States routinely cooperates with foreign governments in documenting and accepting U.S. citizens when asked, as appropriate, as do the majority of countries in the world, but Ghana has failed to do so in this case. We hope the Ghanaian government will work with us to reconcile these deficiencies quickly.”
The sanctions will remain in place until Nielsen notifies Pompeo that cooperation has improved to an acceptable ground.