Ghanaian respiratory therapist arrested by ICE while waiting to board flight in US

A 57-year-old Ghanaian respiratory therapist has been arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while waiting to board a domestic flight at San Francisco International Airport. The man, identified by missionlocal.org with the pseudonym Kwadwo, was arrested while waiting for a flight to Dallas, where he was travelling to visit his cousin, who was recovering from a stroke. US ICE releases details of Ghanaians facing deportation for 'worst of the worst' crimes According to a Mission Local report published on September 29, 2026, Kwadwo had already gone through airport security when a man in plain clothes approached him, confirmed his name and identified himself as an ICE officer. The officer reportedly told him that he was under arrest for overstaying his visa. The report added that Kwadwo was later surrounded by three other officers who took him to the arrivals area, where they put chains around his feet, waist and hands in front of other travellers at the airport. “To have chains around me as if I am the hardest criminal on earth, that was my first shock,” he told Mission Local. Kwadwo, who has lived in Daly City, California, for eight years, has no criminal record, according to the report. Mission Local reported that he was detained over an expired student visa. He applied for a green card but was rejected in June 2024. His first appeal was also rejected, while a second appeal filed in May 2025 remains pending. Following his arrest, Kwadwo was taken to an immigration facility in San Francisco before being transferred to the Golden State Annex detention centre outside Bakersfield, where he has been held for more than two months. Kwadwo was born in Fiema, Ghana, and left the country at age 28. He later moved to South Africa, where he was granted asylum, completed university and ran a guesthouse. He moved to the United States in 2018 with his wife and two sons on a student visa. He later studied respiratory care at Loma Linda University and obtained a master’s degree in the field. He eventually settled in Daly City and worked as a respiratory therapist, providing home care to patients who use ventilators. “I am somebody who loves to work. If you leave me, I can work 24 hours a day,” he said. See the full list of 12 Ghanaians newly added to US ICE's 'Worst of the Worst' criminal list Mission Local reported that Kwadwo was earning more than $166,000 a year before his arrest and was supporting one of his sons, who is pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Texas at Dallas. The publication also reported that Kwadwo has been challenging his continued detention through the US immigration court system. Inside Ghana’s Abandoned Engineering Powerhouse: What Went Wrong? Source: GhanaWeb (https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Ghanaian-respiratory-therapist-arrested-by-ICE-while-waiting-to-board-flight-in-US-2054548)