She fled genital mutilation in Togo. The U.S. deported her. 48%
By Tobi Raji0%
5/10/2026, 9:00:53 AM
Topics: U S Policy
BS Summary: This article contains 21 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Authority, Appeal to Emotion, and Framing Effect, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 33% saturation with 221 hits. Analysis detected 1,132 faulty-reasoning hits from 669 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 48.9% and a BS Rank of 48% (8,869 of 16,813 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 52.70% of the article peer group.
The 28-year-old began to panic when she learned where the military cargo plane, newly departed from a tarmac in Louisiana, was taking her.
The United States was deporting her and 13 other West Africans to Ghana, a country none of them called their own.
From there, she feared, she would be sent on to neighboring Togo, the home she had fled to avoid genital mutilation.
A U.S. judge had ruled that she could not be deported to Togo, where she faced the risk of female genital mutilation, a practice that is widespread in the West African nation.
But the Trump administration had found a workaround: third-country deportations, in which migrants are sent to a nation other than their own.
The woman, whose name is being withheld by The Washington Post to protect her safety, was one of hundreds of migrants deported to third countries during the Trump administration.
These deportations, which have continued under the Biden administration, have drawn criticism from immigration advocates who say they violate international law and put vulnerable people at risk.
The woman’s deportation to Ghana was part of a broader strategy by the Trump administration to deter migration by sending people to countries that were not their own, according to immigration experts and government data.
In fiscal year 2019, the last full year of the Trump administration, more than 1,000 migrants were deported to third countries, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The practice has been used to deport people to countries where they have no ties, including some that are considered unsafe.
In the woman’s case, she was sent to Ghana, which has a history of human rights abuses and is not a signatory to the United Nations refugee convention.
When the plane landed in Accra, the capital of Ghana, the woman was taken to a detention center.
She was held there for several days before Ghanaian authorities determined that she was not Ghanaian and sent her back to Togo.
“I was so scared,” the woman said in an interview from Togo.
“I didn’t know what was going to happen to me.”
The woman’s story is not unique.
Immigration advocates say that third-country deportations are a way for the U.S. government to avoid its obligations under international law, which prohibits returning refugees to countries where they face persecution.
“Third-country deportations are a way to circumvent the legal protections that asylum seekers have,” said David Bier, a senior policy analyst at the Cato Institute.
“It’s a way to send people to places where they don’t have any protection.”
The Trump administration defended the practice, saying it was necessary to deter migration and protect national security.
“Third-country deportations are an important tool to ensure that individuals who do not qualify for protection in the United States are removed from our country,” said a spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The woman’s deportation to Ghana was one of several high-profile cases that drew attention to the practice.
In 2018, a group of Central American migrants was deported to Mexico, where they faced violence and extortion.
In 2019, a group of African migrants was deported to Mauritania, a country with a history of slavery and human rights abuses.
The Biden administration has continued the practice, though at a slower rate.
In fiscal year 2021, the number of third-country deportations dropped to 300, according to DHS data.
But advocates say that even one third-country deportation is too many.
“These deportations are a violation of international law and put people at risk,” said Eleanor Acer, director of refugee protection at Human Rights First.
“The U.S. government has a responsibility to protect asylum seekers, not send them to danger.”
The woman in this story is now back in Togo, where she faces the risk of genital mutilation.
She is trying to find a way to return to the United States, but her options are limited.
“I just want to be safe,” she said.
“I don’t want to be mutilated.”
Analysis
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