KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) \u2014 Uganda has agreed to a deal with the United States to take deported migrants as long as they don\u2019t have criminal records and are not unaccompanied minors, the foreign ministry said Thursday. <\/p>\n
The ministry said in a statement that the agreement had been concluded but that terms were still being worked out. It added that Uganda prefers that the migrants sent there be of African nationalities, but did not elaborate on what Uganda might get in return for accepting deportees.<\/p>\n
The U.S. embassy in Uganda declined to comment on what it called \u201cdiplomatic negotiations,\u201d but said that diplomats were seeking to uphold U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cpolicy of keeping Americans safe.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Trump administration has been seeking ways to deter migrants from entering the country illegally and to deport those who already have done so, especially those with criminal records and including those who cannot easily be deported to their home country. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n \n AP AUDIO: Uganda agrees deal with US to take deported migrants if they don\u2019t have criminal records\n <\/p>\n AP correspondent Karen Chammas reports on a deal between Uganda and the U.S. which has Uganda taking deported migrants.<\/p>\n Human rights activists criticized the deportee deal as possibly going against international law. <\/p>\n Henry Okello Oryem, Uganda\u2019s state minister for foreign affairs, on Wednesday had denied that any agreement on deportees had been reached, though he said his government was in discussions about \u201cvisas, tariffs, sanctions, and related issues.\u201d He also suggested that his country would draw the line at accepting people associated with criminal groups. <\/p>\n \u201cWe are talking about cartels: people who are unwanted in their own countries. How can we integrate them into local communities in Uganda?\u201d he said at the time. <\/p>\n Oryem and other Ugandan government officials declined to comment Thursday.<\/p>\n Opposition lawmaker Muwada Nkunyingi suggested that such a deal with the United States would give the Ugandan government legitimacy ahead of elections, and urged Washington not to turn a blind eye toward what he described as human rights and governance issues in Uganda.<\/p>\n Uganda\u2019s leaders will rush into a deal to \u201cclear their image now that we are heading into the 2026 elections,\u201d Nkunyingi said.<\/p>\n Human rights lawyer Nicholas Opio likened a deportee deal to human trafficking, and said it would leave status of the deportees unclear. \u201cAre they refugees or prisoners?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe proposed deal runs afoul of international law. We are sacrificing human beings for political expediency; in this case because Uganda wants to be in the good books of the United States,\u201d he said. \u201cThat I can keep your prisoners if you pay me; how is that different from human trafficking?\u201d<\/p>\n In July, the U.S. deported five men with criminal backgrounds to the southern African kingdom of Eswatini and sent eight more to South Sudan. The men from Cuba, Jamaica, Laos, Yemen and Vietnam sent to Eswatini are being held in solitary confinement until they can be deported to their home countries, which could take up to a year.<\/p>\n A legal challenge in the U.S had halted the deportation process of the eight men in South Sudan but a Supreme Court ruling eventually cleared the way for them to be sent to South Sudan.<\/p>\n Uganda has had challenges with the U.S. after lawmakers passed an anti-homosexuality bill<\/a> in 2023 that punishes consensual same-sex conduct with penalties including life imprisonment. Washington threatened consequences and the World Bank withheld some funding.<\/p>\n