58-year-old Rabbiatu Kuyateh a Sierra Leonean nurse who was living in Maryland, US, deported by the United States (US) and received by the government of Ghana has broken her silence after she was dragged on the floor by the Ghana immigration officers.
In the viral video shared on X, immigration officials were seen dragging a woman on the floor out of a hotel in Ogbojo, Accra.
Reports suggest the incident happened at the Vicsem Hotel in Ogbojo, a suburb of Accra.
The US deportees were scheduled to be repatriated to their respective countries.
The Sierra Leonean woman who is alleged to be a registered nurse and who lived in the United States for 35 years.
According to the information gathered, the woman pleaded with officials to remain in Ghana as she claimed to have no relatives in Sierra Leone.
The Immigration officers declined her appeal; however, reports suggest she suffered an asthma attack during the confrontation with the officers.
The US deportees were brought into Ghana as part of an arrangement with the United States.
Speaking in an interview with Reuters, Kuyateh revealed she was arrested and detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in July 2025 for living in the US without proper documentation.
She revealed that despite a court ruling that she should not be deported to Sierra Leone because of fears of being tortured due to her father’s the immigration authorities eventually deported her to Ghana in November 2025.
According to her after staying in a hotel in Ghana for about six days, her worst fears when Ghanaian immigration officers told her they were sending her to her home country.
She stated, “They (the Ghanaian immigration officers) asked if I was ready, and I said, ‘I’m ready for what?’ They said they were about to take me to the airport. I asked ‘what airport’, and they said they were about to take me to Freetown.
“That was when I responded to them and said, ‘Go to Freetown! Ghana is supposed to be my safe haven. I cannot go to Freetown because of political reasons,’” she narrated.
She further narrate how the Ghanaian officials began to forcibly remove her, “So, they started dragging me downstairs. I had a wig on; they took the wig off. I still have a swollen leg. That was when I bumped my left ankle, so it is still swollen,” she said.
It will be recalled that President John Mahama, speaking to the media last year, revealed that some 14 US deportees arrived in Ghana, with several of them being Nigerians and a Gambian.
He cited the regional bloc Ecowas’s free movement protocol that allows citizens of member states to enter other West African countries without a visa for up to 90 days.
John Mahama further revealed that Ghana had already facilitated the return of the Nigerians to their country, while the Gambian was still being assisted.
He stated, “We were approached by the US to accept third-party nationals who were being removed from the US. And we agreed with them that West African nationals were acceptable”.
“The government of Ghana took the principled and humanitarian decision to accept the limited number of West African nationals deported from the United States under exceptional circumstances, in line with Ghana’s long-standing Pan-African ideals and unwavering commitment to regional solidarity,” President Mahama stated.
Watch the video below: