Uganda – which has Africa’s largest refugee population – has become the latest African country to agree to take in failed asylum seekers deported from the United States, under President Donald Trump’s controversial deportation drive.
The announcement, made on Thursday by a senior Ugandan Foreign Ministry official, puts the country among a handful of African and Latin American countries cooperating with the Trump administration on resettlement arrangements.
The deal comes as the US seeks third-country destinations for migrants whose own governments are unwilling to take them back.
Similar arrangements with countries including El Salvador and Eswatini have sparked protests in the US and drawn criticism from rights groups, who argue that such transfers could expose vulnerable people to new risks.
According to the United Nations, Uganda already hosts approximately 1.8 million refugees – the largest number on the African continent.
Most come from neighbouring South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, although Sudan’s civil war has in the past year triggered a sharp spike in arrivals.
Uganda grants these new arrivals the right to work, freedom of movement and access to services. President Yoweri Museveni’s government has long been recognised for its open-door approach – which UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi called “the most progressive refugee policies in Africa, if not the world”.
Regarding the deal agreed with Washington, Vincent Bagiire, permanent secretary at Uganda’s foreign ministry, said in a statement on social media: “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.”
He stressed that the deal was only a temporary arrangement, and added that: “Individuals with criminal records and unaccompanied minors will not be accepted.”
Uganda also indicated it would prefer to receive migrants originally from Africa.
“The two parties are working out the detailed modalities on how the agreement shall be implemented,” Bagiire added.
Uganda’s agreement with the US follows Rwanda’s announcement of a similar deal earlier this month, under which it said it would accept up to 250 migrants deported from the US.
Kigali has yet to release details of this, and Washington has not confirmed the arrangement.
South Sudan too has entered into a deportation agreement with the US, taking in eight migrants earlier this year – only one of whom was South Sudanese. Their case was contested in US courts, but Juba confirmed in July that it had assumed responsibility for the men.
Trump’s administration has pushed to speed up the removal of undocumented migrants, sometimes deporting them to countries where they have no ties. In one controversial example, hundreds of Venezuelans alleged to have gang affiliations were first sent to El Salvador, where they were held in austere prison conditions, before being returned to Venezuela.
Rights organisations – including Amnesty International – are sceptical of the latest deals, warning that such transfers may contravene international law.
Deporting people to countries where they risk torture, abduction or persecution could violate the principle of “non-refoulement”, a cornerstone of refugee protection.
Critics argue that outsourcing deportations to fragile or unstable states – particularly in Africa – may compound rather than resolve humanitarian crises.
The UN’s refugee agency UNHCR notes that: “Uganda’s refugee settlements are located in areas highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, including extreme heat and seasonal flooding. These conditions have affected agricultural livelihoods and placed growing pressure on natural resources, occasionally fuelling tensions between refugee and host communities.”