KAMPALA, Uganda – Uganda has reached an agreement with the United States to accept migrants who do not qualify to remain in America, a foreign ministry official announced on Thursday, marking Washington’s latest effort to accelerate deportations.
The arrangement represents another in a series of controversial deals negotiated by President Donald Trump’s administration to send migrants to third countries, including El Salvador and Eswatini – agreements which have drawn fierce criticism from human rights organisations.
Uganda, which already hosts approximately 1.7 million refugees according to United Nations figures, has become the largest refugee-hosting nation in Africa and joins fellow East African countries Rwanda and South Sudan in striking such deals with Washington.
Vincent Bagiire, permanent secretary of Uganda’s foreign affairs ministry, outlined the parameters of the agreement in a statement posted on social media platform X.
“The agreement is in respect of Third Country Nationals who may not be granted asylum in the United States, but are reluctant to or may have concerns about returning to their countries of origin,” Bagiire stated.
He emphasised that the arrangement would be temporary and specified strict conditions: “Individuals with criminal records and unaccompanied minors will not be accepted.”
The Ugandan official also expressed his government’s preference that “individuals from African countries shall be the ones transferred to Uganda,” adding that both parties are currently working out detailed implementation procedures.
The announcement represents a notable reversal from Uganda’s position just one day earlier, when the country had denied that any such agreement existed.
The United Nations refugee agency has praised Uganda’s approach to refugee matters, noting the country’s “progressive refugee policy, maintaining an open-door approach to asylum” under President Yoweri Museveni, who has held power for nearly four decades.
However, Uganda experienced a “significant” increase in refugee arrivals during 2024, primarily due to Sudan’s ongoing civil war, as well as continued unrest in South Sudan and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
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Uganda’s agreement follows similar arrangements across the region. Earlier this month, Rwanda announced it would accept up to 250 migrants, though Kigali has yet to provide further details of that agreement, which Washington has not confirmed.
South Sudan, meanwhile, has already implemented such arrangements, accepting eight migrant criminals from the United States earlier this year – only one of whom was South Sudanese. Despite legal challenges in American courts, South Sudan confirmed in July that its government had assumed care of the men, though it provided no additional details.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has implemented numerous measures designed to expedite deportations of undocumented migrants to countries other than their nations of origin.
The administration has already deported hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador, where they were detained in a high-security facility with reportedly poor conditions before being returned to Venezuela.
The Trump administration has defended these deportations, arguing that the home countries of some targeted individuals sometimes refuse to accept their return.
However, human rights experts have raised serious concerns about the legality of these deportations, warning that they risk violating international law by sending individuals to countries where they may face torture, abduction, and other forms of abuse.
The growing network of third-country agreements has intensified debate over the United States’ approach to migration policy and its compliance with international humanitarian standards.
As implementation details for the Uganda agreement remain under negotiation, the arrangement adds another dimension to the complex regional dynamics surrounding migration, refugee protection, and international cooperation in East Africa.
