Uganda has entered an agreement with the United States to receive nationals from third countries who are denied asylum in the U.S. but are unwilling to return to their homelands, the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Thursday, August 21.
The move comes as President Donald Trump intensifies plans to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, with Washington increasingly turning to third countries to take in deportees. Recent transfers have included sending convicted criminals to South Sudan and Eswatini.
Vincent Bagiire Waiswa, Uganda’s foreign affairs permanent secretary, said the arrangement is temporary and comes with restrictions.
“This is a temporary arrangement with conditions including that individuals with criminal records and unaccompanied minors will not be accepted,” he stated, adding that preference would be given to African nationals.
He noted that both parties are still working out the modalities of implementation.
The announcement follows initial denials by Ugandan officials on Wednesday, after U.S. media reported a deal had been struck. Authorities had argued the country lacked facilities to accommodate deportees.
Uganda, a close U.S. ally in East Africa, already hosts nearly two million refugees and asylum seekers, largely from neighboring states such as South Sudan, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The deal comes amid growing controversy over America’s deportation practices. In July, five migrants from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Yemen, and Cuba described by Washington as convicted criminals were flown to Eswatini and placed in a high-security prison. Their detention is now under challenge at the country’s high court.
That same month, eight migrants were deported to South Sudan after weeks of being confined in a shipping container in Djibouti, while more than 250 Venezuelans were sent back to Caracas after a stopover in El Salvador, where they were briefly held in a notorious prison.
