Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Olivier Nduhungirehe said the United States and in Rwanda were in talks on accepting deportees. File Photo Til Buergy/EPA-EFE
May 5 (UPI) — Rwanda and the Trump administration are in talks to have the central African nation accepted deportees from the United States.
Rwanda’s foreign minister Olivier J.P. Nduhungirehe confirmed the talks Sunday but it was not publicized whether a deal would be for individuals already deported or those who will be in the future. Nduhungirehe said his country was in “early stage” talks about the possibility.
Nduhungirehe said in an interview with the Rwanda Broadcasting Agency Sunday that Rwanda is involved in “talks with the [United States] about a deal on migration.”
It is also unclear if any deal would be to accept deported Rwandans or if migrants from other countries would also be involved. The Handbasket first reported in April that the United States deported Iraqi and alleged terrorist Omar Abdulsattar Ameen to Rwanda.
Rwanda already has a history of deals with Western nations in regard to migrants. It had made an agreement with Britian in 2022 to receive third-country asylum seekers, but the deal was ended in 2024 by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The Trump administration has already deported hundreds of alleged gang members from Venezuela to El Salvador and has asked several countries to take back their own citizens who the United States has deported. Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked visas for all South Sudanese nationals in April after the country wouldn’t accept a deported migrant.
Should a deal be reached, it would make Rwanda the first African nation to accept deportees from the United States.