Ghana’s president spoke out Thursday against normalizing “hatred” toward migrants, days after his US counterpart Donald Trump gave a scathing speech to the United Nations demanding closed borders.
Addressing the UN General Assembly, Ghanaian leader John Mahama said it was time to “dispense with the euphemisms and dog whistles and speak frankly” about Western leaders’ push against migration.
“We cannot normalize cruelty. We cannot normalize hatred. We cannot normalize xenophobia and racism,” he said.
Telling stories of African immigrants who have been successful in Western nations, Mahama said, “I dare say these are not invaders. These are not criminals.”
He pointed to the impact of climate change, which has hit African nations particularly hard even though they bear little historic responsibility for the industrial emissions that have caused the planet’s rising temperatures.
“When the desert encroaches on our villages and towns and they become unlivable, we are forced to flee,” Mahama said.
He did not directly mention specific leaders but Trump, speaking from the same rostrum on Tuesday, said of European countries accepting migrants: “Your countries are going to hell.”
Trump highlighted his mass deportation campaign and vowed to fight the “globalist migration agenda.”
Trump blamed migrants for crime. US statistics show that immigrants carry out fewer violent crimes than native-born Americans.
Despite Mahama’s strong words, he has cooperated with Trump by agreeing to accept non-Ghanaians deported from the United States.
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