Ken Ofori-Atta Detained by US Immigration Over Residence Status
Former Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has been placed in the custody of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) following concerns about the validity of his immigration status, his lawyers have confirmed.
In a statement addressing the situation, his legal team said Mr Ofori-Atta is fully cooperating with US immigration officials as efforts are made to resolve the matter promptly.
The statement noted that the former minister has an active application for adjustment of status, a legal immigration mechanism in the United States that allows a person to lawfully remain in the country beyond the duration of an initial visa.
His lawyers described the process as standard within the US immigration framework and indicated that they expect the issue to be settled within a short period.
The immigration issue comes at a time when Mr Ofori-Atta has been dealing with serious medical conditions that have kept him in the United States since January 2025.
According to medical sources, he has been undergoing treatment after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. The condition was confirmed in March 2025 after MRI scans and a biopsy revealed indications of disease progression.
He later underwent a radical prostatectomy on Friday, June 13, at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Doctors reportedly described the surgery as urgent after further assessments showed an increased spread of cancer cells in the prostate.
Sources close to the family say Mr Ofori-Atta had been under intensive medical care and observation in the United States for several weeks before the operation.
Aside from the cancer diagnosis, the former finance minister is also managing a post-COVID Multi-System Inflammatory Response Syndrome, a condition first diagnosed in February 2021, which has required continuous medical monitoring.
Mr Ofori-Atta served as Ghana’s Finance Minister from 2017 to 2023, steering the economy through a period marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, mounting debt pressures, and negotiations with the International Monetary Fund.
His stay in the United States has also coincided with unresolved legal proceedings in Ghana. In November 2025, the Office of the Special Prosecutor charged him and others with corruption and related offences. The case is currently at the case management conference stage.
The statement emphasised that Mr Ofori-Atta remains a law-abiding individual and is working closely with US immigration authorities to regularise his status while continuing his recovery.
Read Details of Statement Below:
