Seven migrants deported from the United States have arrived in Rwanda, marking the start of a controversial deal between Washington and Kigali under President Donald Trump’s administration.
According to government spokesperson Yolande Makolo, the group touched down in mid-August after being vetted.
Four of the migrants are expected to stay in Rwanda, while three chose to return to their home countries. The Rwandan government, she said, would ensure “appropriate support and protection” for those remaining.
“The first group of seven vetted migrants arrived in Rwanda in mid-August,” Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo said.
The announcement offered no details on the migrants’ nationalities, but footage and reports confirmed they were being accommodated by an international organization, with oversight from both Rwanda’s social services and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
A Broader Push on Deportations
This transfer is part of Trump’s expanded mass deportation plan, a signature policy since the start of his second term in January.
More than a dozen countries have agreed to host deported migrants, though critics warn such moves may put vulnerable people at risk of torture or persecution if sent to unsafe regions.
For Rwanda, this is not unfamiliar ground. The country has previously positioned itself as a safe haven for displaced people.
Between 2019 and April 2025, Kigali—working with the UN refugee agency and the African Union—received nearly 3,000 asylum seekers evacuated from Libya. Many of them have since been resettled elsewhere.
Rwanda’s Track Record With Migration Deals
The East African nation has also experimented with migration partnerships beyond the UN framework.
In 2022, the UK struck a controversial agreement with Rwanda to take in asylum seekers, pledging £240m and constructing housing facilities in Kigali. That deal, however, collapsed last year after Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s government scrapped it, citing legal and ethical concerns.
What became of those UK-funded facilities remains unclear—and so too does whether Rwanda’s new arrangement with Washington includes a financial component.
Rwanda has consistently defended its role, arguing that its own history of displacement during the 1994 genocide gives it both empathy and credibility to host migrants. “Nearly every Rwandan family has experienced the hardships of displacement,” Ms. Makolo told the BBC earlier this month.
Still, Rwanda’s human rights record and its alleged role in backing M23 rebels in neighboring DR Congo continue to cloud its international reputation, even as the Trump administration celebrated brokering a peace agreement between the two countries in June.
The arrival of seven migrants is only the beginning—Rwanda is expected to receive up to 250 people under the deal. With rights groups already sounding alarms and questions swirling around Kigali’s capacity, the agreement is likely to face continued scrutiny in the months ahead.
