Lobamba [Eswatini], August 25: US President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration is a cornerstone of his domestic policy, forming part of his controversial campaign pledge to carry out "the largest deportation operation in American history."
Deporting those migrants to African countries, however, was not part of the original plan he announced when he ran for the presidency in 2024.
But the US Department of Homeland Security said in June that third-country deportations - i.e. sending undocumented migrants from the US to countries other than their own - were necessary to expel people "so uniquely barbaric that their own countries won't take them back."
Uganda has now become the latest country in East Africa to accept a deal with Washington, pledging to take in a yet to-be-specified number of migrants who do not qualify to remain in the United States.
Alex Vines, the head of the Africa Programme at Chatham House, a renowned think tank in London, said this agreement builds on schemes between the US with other African nations adopted earlier in the year.
"In July [2025], a small number of individuals were sent to South Sudan and Eswatini. These were less than 10 in total, but it shows the direction of travel," Vines told DW. "The Uganda deal is a lot more ambitious.
"The Ugandans themselves have said they would not accept people with criminal records or minors, and preferred Africans as the ones they would accept," Vines added, raising questions about the purpose of the scheme.
Uganda hosts Africa's largest refugee population
Just days prior to the confirmation of the deal, Uganda's state minister for foreign affairs, Henry Oryem Okello, claimed the country did not have the capabilities to take in migrants.
But after initially denying the deal with the US government, Vincent Bagiire, the permanent secretary of Uganda's Foreign Affairs Ministry, confirmed the deal while saying it was only a "temporary arrangement."
Uganda already hosts the largest refugee population in Africa, with roughly 1.7 million people housed in various camps across the country, according to the United Nations.
These are for the most part asylum-seekers and recognized refugees, who hail from other countries in the region such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Sudan.
For the most part, these immigrant communities live peacefully alongside the local population - but some think this might change.
"Uganda is a hospitable country, hosting many refugees. That is not a big thing to us. But already as a host country, we are choking," said Dorcus Kimono, a local living in the capital, Kampala.
"If these migrants are coming to our country, we would not mind sharing the little we have with them. But what is the American government doing for us?"
Alex Wandeba, another Kampala resident, shares her views. "Uganda is already overburdened; we have many refugees from the neighbouring countries. I feel we have enough on the table," she said.
Kimono, meanwhile, wonders how Ugandans will ultimately benefit from the agreement with the United States.
"I would want to hear [that if] a deal is reached with our government, that the US is constructing roads, or they are going to help us in the health and education sector. That would be a good deal."
Eswatini has troubling rights record
Though prior US administrations have also conducted third-country removals, the Trump's practice of sending immigrants to countries with considerable political and human rights crises has raised alarm among human rights' groups.
This was particularly notable in July, when the US flew five immigrants from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Yemen and Cuba to Eswatini - the last absolute monarchy in Africa, which is known for its troubling rights record.
Eswatini has been ruled by King Mswati III since 1986. The monarch leads a life of luxury, while the landlocked nation's population of 1.2 million remains poor.
The country has a deteriorating human rights record, according to Human Rights Watch and reports penned by the US State Department itself, as recently as 2023.
Political activist Mphandlana Shongwe said there is widespread public anger in Eswatini about the king's decision to allow those migrants into the country, which appears to have fallen on deaf ears.
"We condemn the bringing of hardcore convicts to our country to mix with our young convicts, who still have a chance to be rehabilitated," Shongwe told DW.
Government spokesperson Thabile Mdluli has assured the public that the five inmates "pose no threat to the country or its citizens," as they were being kept in isolation, at least for now.
South Sudan: War-torn and unsafe
Conflict-torn South Sudan has also agreed to accept immigrants sent by the Trump administration.
Edmund Yakani, head of the East African Civil Society Organisations Forum, told DW that details of the deal were being kept hidden from the public.
Vines of Chatham House believes that it's all about geopolitics.
"It is about these countries looking at how to diversify their partnerships and engender improved relationships with the Trump administration that might carry money and other benefits longer term to them," he said.
"South Sudan is very much in the crosshairs of the current US administration visa strategy of restricting access to the US because of [a history of] overstay of South Sudanese", he explained, adding that there is also the issue of the US tariffs, which "may be reduced, although that has not impacted these countries particularly."
Is Rwanda acting out of good will?
Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo confirmed that her country would also take up to 250 deportees from the US, under the provision that the government maintains "the ability to approve each individual proposed for resettlement" under the agreement.
Elaborating on why Rwanda accepted the US deal, Makolo said the agreement meant the African country was doing its part to help with international migration issues because "our societal values are founded on reintegration and rehabilitation."
Other African nations that are known to have been approached by the US for deportation deals include Liberia, Senegal, Gabon, Mauretania and Guinea-Bissau.
Nigeria has explicitly rejected any proposal by the US, with its Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar saying the country already had "enough of its own problems."
Source: Times of Oman
