Reuters
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Rwanda is in the early stages of discussions to receive deported immigrants from the US, Rwanda’s Olivier Ndunge said on television at the end of Sunday.
Rwanda has recently established itself as a migration destination country that the West wants to remove despite concerns from rights groups that Kigali doesn’t respect some of its most fundamental human rights.
Kigali signed an agreement with the UK in 2022, bringing thousands of asylum seekers from the UK last year before newly elected Prime Minister Kiel Starmer abolished the deal.
“We’re talking with the US,” Nduhungirehe said in an interview with state broadcaster Rwanda TV.
“It’s not yet reached the point where we can say exactly how things go, but discussions are still underway…it’s still in the early stages.”
After the start of the second term in January, US President Donald Trump launched a radical crackdown on immigration and attempted to freeze the resettlement program for US refugees.
His administration is actively promoting illegally expelling immigrants and other non-citizens in the country.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned that migrants sent to Rwanda could be returned to the country they fled. Kigali denied the allegations and accused UNHCR of lying.
Last month, the US deported Iraqi refugees who had resettled in Rwanda, according to US officials and internal emails.
The Supreme Court in April temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting groups of Venezuelan immigrants accused of being members of the gang.
