Former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has been remanded into the custody of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) following a closed-door immigration hearing on Tuesday, January 20, 2026, pending further proceedings on his bail application.
The hearing, which was conducted in private at the request of his legal team, focused on a bail application. However, state attorneys opposed the request, arguing that Mr Ofori-Atta should not be granted bail because Ghana has submitted an extradition request for him.
In his ruling, Judge David A. Gardey declined to make an immediate determination on the extradition claim, noting that no documentary evidence had been presented to support the assertion.
“The court cannot act on assertions without proof,” the judge indicated, directing the federal government to file any evidence of an extradition request on or before February 19, 2026.
The case has been adjourned to Thursday, April 27, at 1pm, when the tribunal is expected to hear both the bail application and any documents the government may submit. Until then, Mr Ofori-Atta will remain in ICE detention.
His detention was first announced on January 7 by his Ghanaian legal representatives, Minkah-Premo, Osei-Bonsu, Bruce-Cathline & Partners (MPOBB), who said he had been taken into custody a day earlier over concerns about his immigration status.
“The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as of January 6, 2026, detained the former Minister for Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, regarding the status of his current stay in the United States,” the firm said in a public notice signed by Justice Kusi-Minkah Premo, Esq.
According to the lawyers, Mr Ofori-Atta has a pending petition for adjustment of status, a legal process that allows individuals to remain in the US beyond the validity of their visa.
“Under US law, a change of status by this method is common,” the statement added, stressing that the former minister is “a law-abiding person” and is fully cooperating with ICE.
Official records from the US Department of Homeland Security indicate that Mr Ofori-Atta is currently being held at the Caroline Detention Facility in Bowling Green, Virginia.
The development has attracted attention in Ghana, especially given Mr Ofori-Atta’s recent legal and medical history.
He has been in the United States since January 2025, where he sought treatment for prostate cancer. He reportedly underwent a radical prostatectomy at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, on June 13, 2025, following tests that showed progression of the disease.
Sources close to the family say he had been under medical observation for weeks before the surgery. He is also said to be managing post-COVID multi-system inflammatory response syndrome, a condition he was diagnosed with in February 2021.
Mr Ofori-Atta served as Ghana’s Finance Minister from 2017 to 2023, steering the country’s economy through the COVID-19 pandemic, debt restructuring, and negotiations with the International Monetary Fund.
In November 2025, the Office of the Special Prosecutor charged him and several others with corruption and corruption-related offences. That case is currently at the case management conference stage.
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