Uganda Agrees to Host Migrants Deported from US Under New Bilateral Deal

The United States has secured bilateral deportation agreements with Uganda and Honduras as part of President Donald Trump’s expanded crackdown on illegal immigration, according to documents obtained by CBS News.

Under the deal, Uganda has agreed to accept an unspecified number of African and Asian migrants who had sought asylum at the US-Mexico border.

The migrants will only be admitted if they have no criminal history, though the total number Uganda may ultimately take remains unclear.

Honduras, meanwhile, will receive several hundred deported migrants from Spanish-speaking countries over a two-year period. The agreement also allows Honduran authorities to consider taking in additional numbers, including families with children.

The arrangements form part of a wider push by the Trump administration to negotiate deportation deals with countries willing to accept migrants who are not their own nationals — a controversial policy that has drawn strong criticism from rights advocates.

Human rights groups warn that such transfers expose vulnerable people to grave risks if relocated to nations with fragile protection systems or troubling rights records.

UN experts have also argued that deporting migrants to third countries could amount to a violation of international law.

Uganda’s government is yet to comment on the reports.

The bilateral deals with Uganda and Honduras follow similar agreements signed earlier this year with Panama, Costa Rica, and Rwanda.

Kigali announced it would take up to 250 migrants from the US but retained the right to approve each case individually — a provision that has raised concerns given Rwanda’s human rights record and history of refoulement.

Last week, Washington announced a “safe third country” agreement with Paraguay, with the State Department framing it as part of a global effort to “share the burden” of irregular migration. US officials are also reported to have approached Spain, Ecuador, and other nations to expand the scheme.

The policy comes after the US Supreme Court in June cleared the administration to deport migrants to countries other than their homeland without first assessing the dangers they might face there. The ruling, which passed by a conservative majority, drew a sharp dissent from Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, who described it as “a gross abuse.”

Trump has made mass deportations a central promise of his second-term agenda, with the White House intensifying efforts to sign new deportation pacts across multiple continents.