Uganda agrees deal with U.S. to take deported migrants if they don’t have criminal records

People wade into the waters of Lake Victoria, Nov. 25, 2024, in Entebbe, Uganda. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

KAMPALA, Uganda — Uganda has agreed a deal with the United States to take deported migrants on condition that the deportees should not have criminal records and not be unaccompanied minors, officials said Thursday.

The Ugandan foreign affairs ministry in a statement said the “two parties are working out the detailed modalities on how the agreement shall be implemented.”

Uganda also expressed a preference that those brought into the country should be of African nationalities.

It was not clear if the agreement had been signed but the ministry statement said it had been “concluded.”

International Relations Minister Henry Okello Oryem told The Associated Press that while Uganda is known globally for its benevolent refugee policy, there are limits.

And he questioned why the country would take people rejected by their own countries.

“We are talking about cartels: people who are unwanted in their own countries. How can we integrate them into local communities in Uganda?” he asked.

He said the government was in discussions about “visas, tariffs, sanctions, and related issues, not accepting illegal aliens from the U.S. That would be unfair to Ugandans.”

In July, the U.S. deported five men with criminal backgrounds to the southern African kingdom of Eswatini and sent eight more to South Sudan.

The Associated Press