An Examination of the Effects of US Immigration Policies on Ghana and Ghanaian Migrants (2016-2019)

Abstract

The United States immigration policies, particularly under President Trump, towards Africa and Ghana has attracted some attention both in scholarship and policy discourse. The Trump administration’s deportation of some Ghanaians migrants and the associated tension that ensued between the US and Ghana, over the former’s visa restriction on some sections of the Ghanaian populace are important events for intellectual inquiry. This study, therefore, focused primarily on exploring the implications of President Trump’s immigration policies towards Ghana and Ghanaian migrants in the US. This study is qualitative research and relied on secondary data including books, journal articles, newspapers, and official websites of state institutions, among others. The study used content analysis to analyze the secondary data obtained. The study found that the major immigration policies of President Obama include Secure Community Programme and Deferred Actions Against Childhood Arrivals – DACA on the one hand, while that of the Trump administration include, the Zero-Tolerance Policy, The Public Charge Act, Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) and the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP). The study further revealed that Republicans such as President Trump are Restrictionist in nature, thereby generally deprioritizing migrant resettlements. The study showed that there are the two main justifications for the implementation of US’ immigration Policies towards Africa under the Trump Administration. The First is to safeguard the national interest of America by protecting the American citizenry and secondly to fulfill a political campaign promise made during 2016 Presidential elections, in order to be re-elected to office in 2020. It was found that Ghana and some other African countries were directly affected by President Trump’s immigration policies that placed a US visa ban on some Muslim countries in Africa and visa restrictions for nationals of “recalcitrant countries”. The study recommends that an appreciation of US immigration policies, towards Africa, by Ghana is crucial to appreciating the changing trends, causes, effects, and suitable solutions in dealing with the US.