By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Uganda and Honduras have reached migrant transfer deal with the United States as part of Washington’s crackdown on illegal immigration, documents obtained by CBS indicate.
While Uganda has agreed to accept an undisclosed number of African and Asian migrants who had claimed asylum on the US-Mexico border, Honduras on the other hand will receive several hundred deported people from Spanish-speaking countries, CBS reports.
US President Donald Trump has been making efforts to get countries around the world to accept deported migrants who are not their own citizens.
The policy has however been condemned by right groups who argue that migrants could be sent to countries where their security could be jeopardized.
According to CBS, under the agreement, Uganda has agreed to accept deported migrants as long as they do not have criminal histories. It is not however clear how many the East African country will accept.
Honduras agreed to receive migrants over two years, including families travelling with children, but documents suggest it could decide to accept more.
So far, at least a dozen nations have reached a deal with US to accept deported migrants from other countries.
US State Department had last week announced it had signed a “safe third country” agreement with Paraguay to “share the burden of managing illegal immigration”.
The White House has also been actively courting several African nations, with Rwanda saying earlier this month it will take up to 250 migrants from the US.
A condition of the deal specifies that Rwanda would have “the ability to approve each individual proposed for resettlement”, a government spokesperson said.
Rwanda has previously been criticised for its human rights record, including the risk that those sent to the East African nation could be deported again to countries where they may face danger.
Government documents show the Trump administration has also approached countries like Ecuador and Spain to receive deported migrants, CBS reported.
Since the start of his second term, Trump has embarked on sweeping efforts to remove undocumented migrants – a key election promise that drew mass support during this campaign.
The US Supreme Court had in June cleared the way for Trump to resume deportations of migrants to countries other than their homeland without giving them the chance to raise the risks they might face.1
