Rwanda agrees to take in 250 US migrant deportees

KIGALI, Rwanda

Rwanda has agreed to take up to 250 migrants deported from the US, the government announced on Tuesday.

Rwanda joins African countries Eswatini and South Sudan in agreeing to take in deportees since the Trump administration turned to the African continent as a destination for migrants from the US who it claims are criminals or gang members.

Yolande Makolo, Rwanda government spokesperson, said the East African country was motivated in part because nearly every Rwandan family has experienced the hardships of displacement, and the country’s societal values are founded on reintegration and rehabilitation.

“Under the agreement, Rwanda has the ability to approve each individual proposed for resettlement. Those approved will be provided with workforce training, health care, and accommodation support to jump start their lives in Rwanda, giving them the opportunity to contribute to one of the fastest growing economies in the world over the last decade,” Makolo said in a statement.

In June, the US Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to deport migrants to third countries without allowing them to show they could be harmed.

When contacted for this story, Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe declined to divulge details of the deal, including what is in it for his country.

But a source speaking anonymously said the US could pay Rwanda in the form of a grant.

In 2023, the UK’s then-Conservative government signed an agreement to facilitate the sending of some migrants who arrive in the UK across the English Channel to Rwanda, where their asylum claims would be processed.

But last year, the new Labour government under Prime Minister Keir Starmer terminated the treaty.