Uganda has dismissed claims that it struck a deal with Washington to accept undocumented migrants expelled from the United States, contradicting reports that suggested otherwise.
Henry Oryem Okello, Uganda’s minister of state for foreign affairs, recounted that no such agreement exists and stressed that the country lacks the infrastructure to host deportees from outside its region. “We cannot take in such illegal immigrants,” he said, firmly rejecting speculation.
The denial comes after a journalist cited internal US government documents suggesting the Trump administration had arranged deportation deals with Uganda and Honduras. According to the report, Uganda had supposedly agreed to receive non-criminal deportees from the US who originated from other African nations. The White House has yet to comment on the matter.
The controversy highlights the Trump administration’s controversial strategy of “third-country deportations”—a practice where undocumented migrants are sent to states with which they have no direct ties. In June, the Department of Homeland Security argued such measures were necessary for individuals whose countries of origin refuse to accept them, describing some cases as “so uniquely barbaric” that deportation back home was impossible.
The policy has faced strong criticism from human rights groups, who view it as both cruel and destabilizing. In one striking example, the US deported five individuals from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Yemen, and Cuba to Eswatini—an authoritarian monarchy repeatedly accused of rights abuses. Eswatini later acknowledged it accepted the deportees only after months of negotiations with Washington.
Although previous US administrations experimented with similar deportation tactics, the Trump White House has been accused of pushing the policy to new extremes by selecting host countries struggling with instability and human rights crises.
Uganda’s rejection of the alleged deal underscores the tensions in balancing migration policies and humanitarian obligations. Despite being a long-standing US ally, Uganda already hosts close to two million refugees—primarily from conflict-ridden neighbors such as South Sudan, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo—placing heavy strain on its resources.
