US judge blasts Trump deportations to Ghana but says she lacks jurisdiction to hear suit

(Fixes typographical error in headline, please read “she lacks” instead of “he lacks”)

By Ted Hesson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. federal judge on Monday night sharply criticized the Trump administration for deporting five migrants from Nigeria and Gambia to Ghana, but said she lacked jurisdiction to take up a related lawsuit.

In a 16-page order, Washington, D.C.-based District Judge Tanya Chutkan said advocacy groups representing the migrants failed to demonstrate why the case should be before her. The Supreme Court ruled in June that the Trump administration could deport migrants to third countries while a legal challenge proceeds before a lower-court judge in Boston.

Still, Chutkan said the deportations of the West African migrants appeared to be an attempt to skirt U.S. immigratio