The Ugandan government has confirmed a temporary agreement with the United States to host certain deported migrants who are unable to secure asylum in America and unwilling or unable to return to their countries of origin.
Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vincent Bagiire, said the arrangement applies strictly to Third Country Nationals and is subject to clear conditions.
“This is a temporary arrangement with conditions, including that individuals with criminal records and unaccompanied minors will not be accepted,” Bagiire said in a statement. “Uganda also prefers that individuals from African countries shall be the ones transferred to Uganda. The two parties are working out detailed modalities on how the agreement will be implemented.”
The announcement has ignited debate both in Uganda and abroad, with concerns raised over transparency, accountability, and the country’s capacity to host such deportees.
Similar U.S. agreements with Rwanda, South Sudan, and Eswatini have previously attracted controversy. In Rwanda, up to 250 non-citizen deportees have been received under a cooperation framework, while civil society in Eswatini described its arrangement as “human trafficking disguised as deportation,” citing reports of solitary confinement and harsh conditions.
The development in Uganda has also been clouded by contradictory government statements. Just a day before the official confirmation, a senior government official told Reuters that no such agreement existed and argued that Uganda lacked the facilities to host deportees.
This apparent contradiction has fueled calls for clarity and sparked renewed debate on whether Uganda can manage the deal without undermining its reputation as one of the world’s largest refugee-hosting nations.
Uganda has previously denied reports of similar arrangements, including in 2019 when a purported U.S. asylum deal was dismissed as “false and misleading.” The confirmation now positions Uganda alongside a small group of African nations cooperating with Washington on deportee resettlement, though under what officials insist is a “strictly conditional and temporary” framework.
