The United States is reportedly in the final stages of negotiations with Rwanda to designate the East African country as a host nation for asylum seekers and migrants turned away at the US border.
This move comes as part of President Donald Trump’s intensifying efforts to curb illegal migration.
Under the proposed plan, Rwanda would join a growing list of partner countries—including El Salvador, Mexico, and more recently, South Sudan—working with the US to accept deportees. The initiative appears to mirror a similar policy previously attempted by the United Kingdom.
“The United States is considering a partnership with Rwanda to host asylum seekers and migrants rejected at the US border,” sources say.
However, concerns are emerging regarding Rwanda’s capacity to manage large populations of asylum seekers, particularly with respect to adherence to international human rights standards.
Bloomberg reports that the US has already “tested” Rwanda as a deportation destination. Earlier this year, an Iraqi national, Omar Abdulsattar Ameen, was deported to Rwanda, with the US reportedly spending $100,000 to facilitate his relocation.
Ameen has been a controversial figure for years, following a previous attempt by the Trump administration to extradite him to Iraq.
Rwanda’s Foreign Minister, Olivier Nduhungirehe, confirmed the ongoing discussions earlier this month: “The country is in talks with the United States about a deal on migration.”
Although a spokesperson for the US State Department declined to officially comment, Secretary of State Marco Rubio affirmed the administration’s broader intentions, stating that the US is “actively searching for other countries to take people”—preferably, he added, “the further away from America, the better, so they can’t come back across the border.”
This strategy strongly resembles the UK’s now-defunct “Rwanda scheme,” launched in 2022 by the Conservative government.
The program, intended to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, was widely criticized and ultimately scrapped by Prime Minister Keir Starmer upon taking office. Starmer dismissed it as “a gimmick” and “ineffective.”
(Business Insider)
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