Uganda has reached an agreement with the United States to host migrants who fail to qualify for asylum in America but are reluctant to return to their countries of origin.
According to Vincent Bagiire Waiswa, the Permanent Secretary of Uganda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the agreement is temporary and conditional, excluding individuals with criminal records and unaccompanied minors.
“We are talking about cartels: people who are unwanted in their own countries. How can we integrate them into local communities in Uganda?” questioned Henry Okello Oryem, Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Minister, highlighting concerns about the country’s capacity to accommodate deportees.
Oryem emphasized that Uganda has a benevolent refugee policy but with limits, and the government is discussing visas, tariffs, sanctions, and related issues, not accepting illegal aliens from the US.
The agreement between Uganda and the US is part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. Uganda has expressed preference for accepting individuals from African countries under the arrangement.
“This is a temporary arrangement with conditions including that individuals with criminal records and unaccompanied minors will not be accepted,” Waiswa stated. The two parties are working out the detailed modalities of the agreement’s implementation.
Uganda currently hosts approximately 1.7 million refugees and asylum seekers, primarily from South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Sudan.
The country is known for its progressive refugee policy, maintaining an open-door approach to asylum. However, Uganda has seen a significant increase in arrivals in 2024 due to Sudan’s civil war and unrest in South Sudan and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Rights experts have warned that deportations risk breaking international law by sending people to countries where they face the risk of torture, abduction, and other abuses.
In July, the US deported five men with criminal backgrounds to Eswatini and sent eight more to South Sudan.
Trump’s administration has also deported hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador, where they were kept in a high-security jail with poor conditions before being returned to Venezuela.