Rwanda is in the “early stage” of talks with the Trump administration to accept migrants deported by the US, the East African country’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Olivier Nduhungirehe, has said.
His comments come after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last month that Washington was “actively searching” for countries that would take in “some of the most despicable human beings”.
Nduhungirehe said the talks were “not new to us” as Rwanda had previously agreed to accept migrants deported by the UK.
However, the UK abandoned the scheme, which faced numerous legal challenges, after Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government took office last July.
Speaking to Rwandan TV on Sunday, Nduhungirehe said the government was in the “spirit” of giving “another chance to migrants who have problems across the world”.
Nduhungirehe added that the talks with the US were continuing, and it was too early to predict their outcome.
Since coming to office in January, US President Donald Trump has focused on speeding up the removal of undocumented migrants, with the promise of “mass deportations”.
In February, El Salvador offered to take in criminals deported from the US, including those with US citizenship, and house them in its mega-jail.
Salvadorean President Nayib Bukele said his government would do so “in exchange for a fee”.
Panama and Costa Rica have also taken in migrants deported from the US.
Last week an unnamed Rwandan official told the Washington Post that the country was “open” to taking in more migrants expelled from the US, after having accepted an Iraqi in March.
The official added that talks with the US started shortly after Trump’s inauguration in January.
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.
However, Rwanda says it is a safe place for refugees.
Source: BBC
