Aug. 5 (UPI) — Rwanda on Tuesday agreed to accept hundreds of U.S.-deported migrants as part of a broad effort by the Trump administration to get African nations to take in deportees.
“Rwanda has agreed with the United States to accept up to 250 migrants, in part because nearly every Rwandan family has experienced the hardships of displacement,” Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo told Politico and The New York Times.
Rwanda’s societal values, Makolo claimed in a statement, were “founded on reintegration and rehabilitation.”
Rwanda’s foreign minister Olivier J.P. Nduhungirehe initially confirmed the talks in May.
Its notorious 1994 genocide that killed over 800,000 Tutsi and Hutu peoples and later recovery made the small African country stand on its own in the eyes of the global community.
The Trump administration issued requests to at least 15 African nations, including South Sudan and Eswatini, to accept illegal migrants supposedly unable to return to their native country.
A second Rwandan government official told said the United States will provide funding but declined to outline a figure.
Last month, an internal memo out of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement indicated the federal agency intended to expand its effort to deport immigrants to other countries abroad where they do not hold citizenship.
The White House previously signed off on a $6 million infusion of U.S. dollars to El Salvador to imprison Venezuelan and Salvadoran citizens.
Meanwhile, Rwandan officials said the U.S.-infused money will support further work and training programs by its immigration authority.
The Rwandan official granted anonymity indicated its government agreed to demands as an opportunity to form closer ties to Washington.
In early July, President Donald Trump met at the White House with the leaders of Senegal, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania and Gabon to talk over trade. Within days the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the administration was permitted to deport eight migrants to war-torn South Sudan held at a U.S. military base in neighboring Djibouti.
The anonymous Rwandan government official said Tuesday that as a small country, “any time you can find a way consistent with your own policies and values, to be able to talk to a major country about something that it is interested in and not just asking them to take an interest in your issues,” that it creates a “more productive” and a “more balanced” diplomatic relationship “that’s good for both sides.”
However, the official did state that it’s an “obviously not equal” relationship.