From US to Uganda

Blitz Bureau

UGANDA has entered an agreement with the United States to take in nationals from third countries who may not get asylum in the U.S. but are reluctant to return to their countries of origin, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said on August 21.

President Donald Trump aims to deport millions of immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally and his administration has sought to increase removals to third countries, including by sending convicted criminals to South Sudan and Eswatini. Vincent Bagiire Waiswa, the ministry’s permanent secretary, said in a statement that Uganda would prefer to receive people from African nationalities under the agreement.

Uganda, a U.S. ally in East Africa, also hosts nearly two million refugees and asylum-seekers, who mostly hail from countries in the region such as Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Sudan.

In July, the US deported five men with criminal backgrounds to Eswatini and sent eight more to South Sudan. The UN’s refugee agency notes that Uganda has a “progressive refugee policy, maintaining an open-door approach to asylum”.

However, the country also saw a “significant” increase in arrivals in 2024, it said, primarily as a result of Sudan’s civil war, but also unrest in South Sudan. Rights experts have warned that the deportations risk breaking international law by sending people to countries where they face the risk of torture, abduction and other abuses.

Since the second Trump administration took office, at least a dozen countries have already accepted — or agreed to accept — deportees from other nations. US officials have been actively engaging with foreign governments in this regard. Internal government documents reveal that the Trump administration has also approached countries such as Ecuador and Spain, requesting them to accept these so-called third-country deportees from the United States.

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