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Rwanda has received its first group of migrants deported from the United States under a controversial bilateral arrangement that is expected to see hundreds more sent to the East African nation in the coming months.
According to Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo, seven vetted migrants arrived in mid-August as part of an agreement between Kigali and the U.S. administration of President Donald Trump. Of these, four will remain in Rwanda while three have chosen to voluntarily return to their countries of origin.
Makolo did not provide details about the nationalities of the deportees but said they were being housed under the care of an international organization and would receive oversight from Rwandan social services and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
“All individuals will receive appropriate assistance and protection upon arrival,” Makolo told Rwanda’s New Times newspaper. An IOM spokesperson confirmed that the organization had conducted an initial needs assessment for the group.
The deportation is the first under a plan to relocate up to 250 migrants from the United States to Rwanda, part of President Trump’s broader mass deportation initiative launched at the start of his second term in January. At least a dozen countries have reportedly agreed to similar arrangements to receive migrants expelled from the U.S.
Rights organizations have raised concerns that such transfers may violate international law, particularly if migrants are sent to countries where they face the risk of persecution, torture, or other serious human rights abuses.
Rwanda has framed its participation in the scheme as an act of solidarity, citing its own history of displacement during the 1994 genocide. “Nearly every Rwandan family has experienced the hardships of displacement,” Makolo told the BBC earlier this month, defending the government’s decision to host deportees despite external criticism of its human rights record.
Kigali has previously partnered with international bodies to host vulnerable migrants. Under a six-year agreement with the UN Refugee Agency and the African Union, nearly 3,000 refugees and asylum seekers were evacuated from conflict zones in Libya to Rwanda between 2019 and 2025. Many of those individuals have since been resettled elsewhere.
Rwanda also had a high-profile asylum transfer agreement with the United Kingdom, signed in 2022 under the Conservative government. However, that program was cancelled by the Labour government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer in 2024 after legal challenges and public backlash. The UK had paid Rwanda £240 million (approximately $310 million) for the initiative and funded housing facilities, though the future of these structures remains unclear.
Similarly, the financial terms of Rwanda’s current arrangement with the U.S. have not been disclosed.
The agreement comes amid a period of heightened U.S.–Rwanda engagement. In June, Trump’s administration facilitated a peace accord between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) aimed at ending decades of conflict in the Great Lakes region. Kigali has faced persistent allegations of backing the M23 rebel group in eastern DRC, claims it has consistently denied.
The arrival of the first deportees marks the beginning of a program that could reshape migration dynamics between Africa and the United States. As more migrants are expected to follow, international scrutiny will likely intensify, with human rights organizations calling for greater transparency and assurances that those relocated will not face harm.
Credit: BBC Africa