Uganda agrees to conditional US migrant deal
Uganda has agreed to accept deported migrants from the United States under a deal made with President Donald Trump’s administration.
“This is a temporary arrangement with conditions, including that individuals with criminal records and unaccompanied minors will not be accepted,” Vincent Bagiire Waiswa, permanent secretary of Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, said in a statement Thursday.
The deal was first reported Tuesday by CBS News, which said the US has made a similar agreement with Honduras as part of its effort to increase expulsions of migrants to countries where they lack citizenship.
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Uganda already hosts largest refugee population in Africa
Uganda said it prefers to receive individuals with African nationalities under the agreement.
“The two parties are working out the detailed modalities on how the agreement shall be implemented,” Waiswa said.
Uganda, a US ally in East Africa, already hosts nearly 2 million refugees and asylum-seekers, mostly from nearby countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Sudan.
It’s not the first time the Trump administration has deported migrants to third countries.
In July, the US deported five men with criminal backgrounds to the southern African kingdom of Eswatini and sent eight more to South Sudan. The government of Rwanda also said last month that it had agreed to receive migrant detainees from the US.
