Dr. Ismaila Ceesay, Gambia’s Minister for Information, said the U.S. government had informed Gambian authorities of the planned deportations, Fatu Network reports, quoting West Coast Radio. However, he emphasised that before any deportations take place, the government must verify the identities of those affected.
“The fact is that we have currently over 3000 Gambians that are in line to be deported to the Gambia by the American government,” Dr. Ceesay said in an interview with West Coast Radio. “But we as a government need to verify whether these are really Gambians before they can be issued traveling documents.”
According to Dr. Ceesay, the U.S. government proposed handling the verification virtually, but discussions over the process have caused delays. As a result, Gambia has been placed on a list of countries that could face travel restrictions.
“The verification process is a slow process because these Gambians are in different states. Going to interview them and verify whether they are Gambians involves a lot of logistics. US government has suggested this thing to be done virtually, and that was an issue back and forth in trying to find a solution to this. And because of the delay, it was an administrative decision to put Gambia on a list of countries to be potentially inflicted by traveling restrictions,” Dr. Ceesay Explained.
