Uganda receives first US deportation flight under third-country agreement

Uganda receives first US deportation flight under third-country agreement

The first group of individuals deported from the United States has arrived in Uganda, marking a new phase in the country’s role as a destination for migrants under a bilateral arrangement with Washington. This agreement, signed in August, enables the transfer of people who may not qualify for asylum in the US but are willing to stay temporarily in East Africa before being repatriated to their home nations.

According to an unnamed Ugandan government official, the 12 deportees will remain in the country as part of an “interim period for potential onward transmission.” The Uganda Law Society, which voiced strong objections to the process, described it as “undignified, harrowing, and dehumanising,” likening the deportees to “little more than chattel” for the benefit of private interests on both sides of the Atlantic.

“We do not, however, discuss the details of our private diplomatic communications and for privacy reasons, we cannot discuss the particulars to their cases,” said Yasmeen Hibrawi, a public affairs counsellor at the US embassy in Kampala.

The US has already sent dozens of individuals to third countries through this program, with other African nations like Eswatini, Ghana, Rwanda, and South Sudan also accepting deportees. These individuals come from diverse regions, including Cuba, Jamaica, Yemen, Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar. The US has reportedly paid Eswatini $5.1 million to accommodate up to 160 nationals, with five men arriving in July and another ten in October.

Two of the deportees have since been returned to their countries of origin—Jamaica and Cambodia—while the rest remain in a maximum security facility. Meanwhile, Uganda, which hosts nearly 2 million refugees and asylum seekers, most from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Sudan, continues to process hundreds of asylum seekers for deportation under the agreement.

Oryem Okello, Uganda’s foreign affairs minister, noted that no deportees had yet arrived, citing the US’s possible “cost analysis” to optimize the number of people per flight. “Planeloads – that is the most effective way,” he added, emphasizing the need for larger transfers to streamline the process.

Government data from the US shows that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had detained over 63,000 people by 12 March, including toddlers and newborns at an ICE facility in Dilley, Texas. A report by Human Rights First and Raices highlighted that more than 5,600 infants and young children were held there between April 2025 and February 2026.