Uganda has dismissed reports that it had agreed to take in deportees from the United States, saying the country lacks the facilities to host such migrants.
The denial followed a CBS News report citing internal U.S. government documents that claimed Washington had reached deportation deals with Uganda and Honduras as part of an effort to increase expulsions of migrants who lack U.S. citizenship.
“To the best of my knowledge we have not reached such an agreement,” Okello Oryem, Uganda’s state minister for foreign affairs, told Reuters via text message. “We do not have the facilities and infrastructure to accommodate such illegal immigrants in Uganda.”
Honduras has not immediately responded to the report.
The CBS report said the arrangements were grounded in a U.S. immigration law provision that permits asylum-seekers to be rerouted to third countries deemed capable of handling their claims.
The move is in line with former President Donald Trump’s pledge to deport millions of undocumented immigrants and expand removals to third countries, including past transfers of convicted criminals to South Sudan and Eswatini.
Uganda, a key U.S. ally in East Africa, already hosts nearly two million refugees and asylum-seekers, mainly from conflict-stricken neighbouring countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Sudan.
Written By Rodney Mbua
