Uganda agreed on a deal with the United States to take deported migrants on condition that the deportees did not have criminal records and were not unaccompanied minors.
Adding that the agreement with the US to take in nationals from third countries who may not get asylum in the US but are reluctant to return to their countries of origin, the foreign affairs ministry said on Thursday.
"This is a temporary arrangement with conditions including that individuals with criminal records and unaccompanied minors will not be accepted," Vincent Bagiire Waiswa, the ministry's permanent secretary, said in a statement.
This came in after Donald Trump aimed to deport millions of immigrants who entered the country illegally, with his administration planning to increase removals to third countries, including sending convicted criminals to South Sudan and Eswatini.
The Ugandan Foreign Affairs Ministry, in a statement, said the “two parties are working out the detailed modalities on how the agreement shall be implemented.”
Uganda also expressed a preference that those brought into the country should be of African nationalities.
According to CBS News, which cited US government documents, the administration of US President Donald Trump had reportedly reached agreements with Uganda and Honduras to accept deportees as part of a broader effort to persuade countries worldwide to assist in its crackdown on irregular immigration.
Uganda, a US ally, also hosts nearly two million refugees and asylum-seekers, who mostly hail from countries in the region such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Sudan.
The ministry statement said it had been “concluded," though there were no official agreements signed.
