Rwanda Has Entered Talks With US to Receive Deportees, Foreign Minister Says

The Trump administration has worked to expand its list of partner countries willing to receive illegal immigrants being deported from the United States.

Police officers stand near a plane reported by UK media to be first to transport illegal immigrants to Rwanda at MOD Boscombe Down base in Wiltshire, England, on June 14, 2022. Hannah McKay/Reuters

Rwanda has entered early talks about potentially taking in illegal immigrant deportees from the United States, Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe announced on May 4.

“We are in discussions with the United States,” Nduhungirehe said in an interview with RwandaTV, a state-run broadcaster.

He said talks are only in the earliest stages.

“It has not yet reached a stage where we can say exactly how things will proceed, but the talks are ongoing,” the foreign minister said.

Responding to a request for comment from The Epoch Times, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said the department is continuing to engage with foreign countries to help deter illegal and mass migration to the United States. The spokesperson declined to comment directly on discussions with the Rwandan government.

The Epoch Times also contacted the White House for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

Since taking office, U.S. President Donald Trump has sought to expand efforts to deport illegal immigrants in the United States. Working to facilitate the broader deportation process, the Trump administration has sought deals whereby other countries take in those deportees.

In February, Secretary of State Marco Rubio helped restore a deal that had been in place during Trump’s first term, under which El Salvador would take in deportees of Salvadoran nationality as well as third-country nationalities. Rubio also helped negotiate a similar deal whereby Guatemala would take in deportees of any nationality.

Speaking at a Cabinet meeting last week to mark Trump’s 100th day in office, Rubio detailed the administration’s continued search for partner nations to take in U.S. deportees.

“We are working with other countries to say, ‘We want to send you some of the most despicable human beings to your countries. Will you do that as a favor to us?’” the secretary of state said. “And the further away from America, the better, so they can’t come back across the border.”

Rwanda has recently positioned itself as one potential reception point for countries seeking to offload their deportees.

In 2022, then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that he had reached a deal with the Rwandan government whereby illegal immigrants in the UK could be relocated to the landlocked central African nation.

The UK–Rwandan agreement soon encountered legal challenges both within the UK court system and before the European Court of Human Rights.

The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees also raised concerns that Rwanda would pass asylum seekers off to the repressive countries from which they had fled. The Rwandan government rejected the allegation as a lie.

After taking office in July, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, “The Rwanda scheme was dead and buried before it started.”

Reuters contributed to this report.