Wednesday, October 7, 2026

Rwanda agrees to resettle 250 U.S.-deported migrants amid Trump pressure on African nations

Concerns have been raised about U.S. pressure on African nations to accept deportees from other countries.

• August 5, 2025
U.S.-deported migrants
U.S.-deported migrants[Credit: BBC]

Rwanda has agreed to receive approximately 250 migrants deported from the United States, in response to Washington’s request under President Donald Trump.

Concerns have been raised about U.S. pressure on African nations to accept deportees from other countries.

According to CNN, the spokesperson for the Rwandan government, Yolande Makolo, confirmed to the news agency on Tuesday that the East African nation had “agreed with the United States to accept up to 250 migrants.”

The deal would allow Rwanda to approve the resettlement plan for each of the 250 deportees, becoming the third African country to agree to such after South Sudan and Eswatini had received earlier groups, who the United States government described as “barbaric” criminals.

The latest dispatch to Africa came a week after Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar revealed that the Trump administration was mounting pressure on countries on the continent to accept deported Venezuelan citizens, who the South American nation has refused to accept.

“You have to also bear in mind that the U.S. is mounting considerable pressure on African countries to accept Venezuelans to be deported from the U.S., some straight out of prison,” Mr Tuggar said in an interview on Channels TV last month.

He added, “It will be difficult for a country like Nigeria to accept Venezuelan prisoners into Nigeria. We have enough problems of our own,” said the foreign minister.

The minister added, “The issue of accepting Venezuelan deportees, honestly, I don’t think is something that Nigeria is in a position to work with.”

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