For fear of being deported to Ghana, a Church of Pentecost branch in North Columbus, United States, has been left empty by its Ghanaian members.
A video shared on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, shows the church’s wide parking lot in Ohio emptier than usual, following an ongoing wave of mass deportations of illegal immigrants in the United States. These deportations began in January 2025, after Donald Trump’s second inauguration on January 20.
The district pastor of the Church of Pentecost USA Inc., North Columbus, Jehovah-Jireh Temple, Samuel Koomson, expressed concern that 50 percent of his congregation is staying home instead of attending church for fear of being deported.
“It is painful to see that the state gives us food to distribute to them. The community comes—those who are not even members would come and take the food. Now, we put the food out there, but they are not even coming,” he lamented.
On January 23, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began carrying out raids on sanctuary cities, detaining and deporting hundreds of illegal immigrants. The Trump administration reversed previous policies and granted ICE permission to conduct raids at schools, hospitals, and places of worship.
Following his victory in the 2024 United States presidential election, Trump stated that he had “no choice” but to commence mass deportations upon assuming office in 2025.
Regarding the financial costs, Trump said, “When people have killed and murdered, when drug lords have destroyed countries, they’re going back to those countries because they’re not staying here. There is no price tag.”
The former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under Trump from January 2017 to June 2018, Tom Homan, declared that he would “run the biggest deportation force this country has ever seen” in 2025.
In November 2024, Homan proposed cutting federal funding from states that do not comply with deportation plans.
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
