WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States has signed bilateral deportation agreements with Uganda and Honduras, expanding President Donald Trump’s controversial efforts to remove undocumented migrants to third countries.
According to documents obtained by CBS, Uganda will accept an unspecified number of African and Asian migrants who had claimed asylum at the US-Mexico border, provided they do not have criminal records.
Honduras, meanwhile, has agreed to take several hundred deported migrants from Spanish-speaking countries over the next two years, including families with children.
The arrangements are part of the Trump administration’s push to secure deportation pacts with countries outside migrants’ homelands, a policy human rights advocates warn could place vulnerable people at grave risk.
“Sending asylum seekers to third countries with weak human rights protections or limited capacity to support them exposes migrants to harm and further displacement,” rights groups said, citing concerns that such deals may breach international law.
The agreements with Uganda and Honduras follow similar arrangements with Paraguay, Rwanda, Panama, and Costa Rica.
Earlier this month, Rwanda said it would take up to 250 migrants under a deal that allows it to approve each case individually.
Rwanda and Uganda have both faced international scrutiny over human rights concerns, including the risk of onward deportations to countries where returnees could face persecution.
Government records show Washington has approached other nations, including Ecuador and Spain, to accept deported migrants as Trump doubles down on a campaign pledge to curb illegal immigration.
Since the start of his second term, the president has intensified removals, a policy greenlit by the US Supreme Court in June.
In a 6-3 ruling, the Court allowed deportations to countries other than migrants’ homelands without a chance to contest potential risks.
Liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, describing the decision as “a gross abuse.”
So far, at least a dozen countries across Latin America, Africa, and Europe have signed deals with Washington, underscoring the global scope of Trump’s strategy.
