Africa-Press – Gambia. With a fortnight before the expiry of the US deadline for The Gambia to accept 3,000 citizens due for deportation or face travel ban, Information Minister Dr Ismaila Ceesay yesterday revealed to The Standard that the only official request made by Washington was for the government to verify the nationality of four people claiming to be Gambians.
President Donald Trump’s administration has embarked on a mass deportation of migrants in the United States. The Gambia is reportedly included in the list of over 40 countries that are likely to face travel ban if it refuses to accept its citizens.
The Gambia Government had asked for time to allow it to verify whether all the 3,000 listed people are really Gambians before they can be issued travelling documents.
Asked for an update on the matter with the clock ticking towards the deadline, Dr Ceesay told The Standard: “So far, the only official communication we received from the US Government through our Embassy in Washington was for us to verify the nationality of four people; whether they are Gambians or not. The Gambia government complied and we have established their nationality as Gambians.”
The minister added that the US has not yet made a request for The Gambia to issue “cargo documents” for the four, insisting that “the request made is to ascertain their nationality”.
Asked about the 3,000 initially reported to be identified for deportation, Dr Ceesay said; “You can have figures like this. For example, in Germany there are 16,000 Gambians slated to be deported but they may not deport everyone. They are deporting those who they want to deport and they can just choose from any of them. So you can be on the list but that does not mean action will be taken. What is clear here is that the US wants us to ascertain the nationality of four individuals and we have complied with that request.”
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