Uganda has firmly denied entering into an agreement with the United States to accept undocumented immigrants for deportation. A senior official stated the East African nation lacks the necessary infrastructure and facilities to house such individuals.
Henry Oryem Okello, the country’s state minister for foreign affairs, clarified that no such arrangement exists. “To the best of my knowledge, we have not reached such an agreement,” he said. “We do not have the facilities and infrastructure to accommodate such illegal immigrants in Uganda. So, we cannot take them in.”
This statement directly contradicts recent media reports suggesting the White House had secured deportation agreements with both Honduras and Uganda. Those reports indicated that Uganda had consented to accept non-criminal deportees from the US who are originally from other African nations.
The US Department of Homeland Security has previously defended the policy of “third-country deportations,” arguing it is a necessary measure for individuals deemed too dangerous for their home countries to accept back. This practice involves sending undocumented migrants to nations other than their country of origin.
However, the policy has drawn significant criticism for its severity. Recent deportations have included sending individuals to countries with challenging human rights situations. For instance, several immigrants were recently flown to the kingdom of Eswatini, a nation whose human rights record was heavily criticized in a recent US government report.
While the practice of third-country removals is not new, the current administration’s approach of sending immigrants to nations experiencing political and humanitarian crises has attracted international concern and condemnation.
Uganda itself is already host to a substantial population of nearly two million refugees and asylum-seekers, primarily from neighboring conflict-affected countries in the region.
