A Maryland woman has shared her bewilderment and distress after being deported to a country where she claims to have no connections and has never set foot.
Fifty-eight-year-old Rabbiatu Kuyateh, who escaped the civil war in Sierra Leone three decades ago and found refuge in the United States, was abruptly sent to Ghana earlier this month. Her deportation followed an unexpected detention during her routine check-in with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
A disturbing video has surfaced, capturing the shocking moment Kuyateh was dragged across the floor by individuals she identifies as Ghanaian government officials. This footage has rapidly spread across social media platforms, raising concerns and sparking outrage.
In the widely circulated clip, Kuyateh, a grandmother, is seen being forcibly pulled on her stomach by individuals in green uniforms. They were attempting to transfer her onto a bus bound for Sierra Leone, where she is currently staying in an undisclosed location.
Speaking to NBC 4, Kuyateh recounted her ordeal, describing how she attempted to resist as she was roughly handled. “That’s when they dragged me. They bumped the back of my head,” she explained. NBC has reviewed photographs that appear to show injuries to Kuyateh’s head, purportedly sustained during the struggle.
Her son, Mohamed Alghali, expressed his shock and dismay at the sudden detention of his mother. He described feeling “defeated” and as though he had failed her when they were separated. “It felt like I failed my mom,” he shared with the news outlet.
He recalled to the outlet the moment she was taken away: ‘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.’
Rabbiatu Kuyateh, 58, was deported from Maryland to Ghana where a video showed her being dragged across the floor to be taken to Sierra Leone after she fled its civil war 30 years ago
Kuyateh was dragged across the floor on her stomach, as people in green uniforms held onto her wrists to load her on to a bus
Mohamed Alghali, Kuyateh’s son, said his ‘heart just broke’ after his mother was taken from Maryland, where their family built their home
Hannah Bridges, Kuyateh’s attorney, said that the grandmother’s human rights had been violated during the process of her deportation.
‘I don’t think anyone expected her to be detained, just because nothing had changed with her circumstances,’ Bridges told the outlet.
Kuyateh spent several days in Maryland ICE’s temporary holding area before she was moved to a facility in Louisiana where she spent several months, according to Bridges.
As the lawyer attempted to fight for Kuyateh, all her requests for court hearings ‘went unacknowledged,’ she told the outlet.
According to Bridges, Kuyateh ‘should have been given notice and an opportunity to seek protection from removal to a third country.’
‘The government had multiple opportunities to do this,’ she added.
In September a judge ordered that Kuyateh could not be deported to Sierra Leone, where the 58-year-old grandma had previously been tortured, Bridges told NBC.
She was then sent to Ghana and spent six days in a hotel before the bus arrived to take her to Sierra Leone, the lawyer claimed.
Kuyateh believed the people loading her onto the bus were workers for Ghana’s government
Hannah Bridges, Kuyateh’s attorney, said the grandmother’s rights were violated and she ‘should have been given notice and an opportunity to seek protection from removal to a third country’
It is understood that the Sierra Leone High Commission in Ghana is aware of the allegations and plans investigate.
Kuyateh told NBC: ‘I consider America my home. It’s like, I built relationships there.’
Alghali, her son, was born in the United States, and has family living with him in DC. His grandparents moved over to be with them and became citizens, while Kuyateh was a nurse on a work permit and never became a citizen.
Her son owns a home in Bowie with Kuyateh and describes his mother as his best friend.
Kuyateh served as her parents primary care giver, and she said she was worried who would now care for them.
Alghali told the outlet that he felt that his mother had been failed by the United States.
‘Yes, one hundred percent. I felt like they’ve been failing her,’ he said.
Kuyateh’s case raises concerns for deportees being sent to Ghana, after the US Department of Justice said that Ghana pledged it would not send deportees back to their home countries in September.
Kuyateh was protected from being deported directly to Sierra Leone by a US judge after claiming she had been tortured there
Her son was born in the United States and his grandparents moved to be with them and became citizens, while Kuyateh was a nurse on a work permit and never became a citizen
The DOJ also argued it had no power to control how another country treats deportees.
However, the United Nations human rights office called on Ghana to stop sending deportees from the US back to their home countries if it was determined by US courts to be dangerous, NBC reported.
The Daily Mail has reached out to ICE in Maryland, the Sierra Leone High Commission in Ghana, Kuyateh’s attorney Bridges and the US Department of Justice for comment.
