{"id":23263,"date":"2026-01-07T22:32:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T22:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/expressnewsghana.com\/?p=23263"},"modified":"2026-01-07T22:32:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T22:32:48","slug":"us-immigration-officers-detains-ofori-atta-amidst-legal-battles-for-release","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expressnewsghana.com\/?p=23263","title":{"rendered":"US Immigration Officers Detains Ofori Atta amidst Legal Battles for Release"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the United States of America (USA) has detained former finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, but his US legal team is working frantically to have him released.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Lawyers for Mr Ofori-Atta in Ghana, Minkah-Premo, Osei-Bonsu, Bruce-Cathline and Partners (MPOBB) have stated in a public notice.<\/p>\n<p>The MPOBB public notice, issued on Wednesday, 7 January 2026 and signed by Justice Kusi-Minkah Premo Esq., noted that the detention resulted from challenges regarding the status of Mr Ofori-Atta\u2019s continued stay in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as of yesterday, detained the former Minister for Finance, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, regarding the status of his current stay in the United States. His US legal team is in contact with ICE and expects the matter to be resolved expeditiously.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMr. Ofori-Atta has a pending petition for adjustment of status, which authorizes a person to stay in the US legally past the period of validity of their visa. Under US law, a change of status by this method is common,\u201d the public notice issued by MPOBB read.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Public is, therefore, advised to note that he is a law-abiding person and is fully cooperating with ICE to have this issue resolved. His legal team is in contact with ICE and working to resolve the matter as expeditiously as possible,\u201d the public notice issued by Mr Ofori-Atta\u2019s lawyers further read.<\/p>\n<p>*Background*<\/p>\n<p>Ken Ofori-Atta has been in the United Stated since January 2025 for medical treatment. He had surgery in the United States following a diagnosis of prostate cancer.<\/p>\n<p>The procedure, a radical prostatectomy, took place Friday, 13 June, at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Medical sources described the surgery as a crucial step after recent tests revealed signs of the cancer\u2019s progression.<\/p>\n<p>Doctors reportedly confirmed the diagnosis in March 2025 after MRI scans and a biopsy detected an increased spread of cancer cells in the prostate.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Ofori-Atta had been receiving treatment and undergoing monitoring in the U.S. for several weeks ahead of the operation, sources close to the family said.<\/p>\n<p>He had also been managing a post-COVID Multi-System Inflammatory Response Syndrome, initially diagnosed in February 2021 \u2014 a condition that has required ongoing medical oversight.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Ofori-Atta served as Ghana\u2019s Finance Minister from 2017 to 2023, playing a key role in the country\u2019s economic management during a turbulent period that included the COVID-19 pandemic and negotiations with the International Monetary Fund.<\/p>\n<p>In November 2025, the Office of the Special Prosecutor, (OSP) charged him and others with corruption and corruption related offences. The trial is at case management conference (CMC) stage.<\/p>\n<p>*Source: assaseonline.com*<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the United States of America (USA) has detained former finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, but his US legal team [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1667],"tags":[4357],"class_list":["post-23263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-courts-crime","tag-ken-ofori-atta-detained"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>US Immigration Officers Detains Ofori Atta amidst Legal Battles for Release - Express News Ghana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/expressnewsghana.com\/?p=23263\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US Immigration Officers Detains Ofori Atta amidst Legal Battles for Release - Express News Ghana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the United States of America (USA) has detained former finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, but his US legal team [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/expressnewsghana.com\/?p=23263\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Express News Ghana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/web.facebook.com\/nyaaba.felix.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-07T22:32:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/expressnewsghana.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/oforiatta-min.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"571\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"371\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"For more information, please contact ExpressNewsGhana via email at expressnewsgh@gmail.com or WhatsApp at +233 0543 900 732\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@FelixNyaaba3\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@FelixNyaaba3\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"For more information, please contact ExpressNewsGhana via email at expressnewsgh@gmail.com or WhatsApp at +233 0543 900 732\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/expressnewsghana.com\\\/?p=23263#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/expressnewsghana.com\\\/?p=23263\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"For more information, please contact ExpressNewsGhana via email at expressnewsgh@gmail.com or WhatsApp at +233 0543 900 732\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/expressnewsghana.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6b5e797531449c1dcb8747e970ceab0c\"},\"headline\":\"US Immigration Officers Detains Ofori Atta amidst Legal Battles for Release\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-07T22:32:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/expressnewsghana.com\\\/?p=23263\"},\"wordCount\":445,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/expressnewsghana.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/expressnewsghana.com\\\/?p=23263#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/expressnewsghana.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/oforiatta-min.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Ken Ofori Atta detained\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Courts &amp; 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