US Strikes Deportation Deals With Honduras And Uganda

The United States has signed separate deportation agreements with Honduras and Uganda as part of President Donald Trump’s wider effort to toughen immigration rules, according to documents obtained by CBS and shared by the BBC.

Under the arrangement, Uganda will accept an unspecified number of African and Asian migrants who had sought asylum at the US-Mexico border, provided they have no criminal record. Honduras, meanwhile, will receive several hundred deported migrants from Spanish-speaking countries over a two-year period, with the possibility of taking in more later, CBS reported.

The Trump administration has been seeking similar agreements with countries across different regions, including those facing criticism over human rights practices. Human rights advocates argue the policy puts deported migrants at risk, as they could end up in countries where they might face persecution or further displacement.

The US has already secured at least a dozen such arrangements. Last week, Washington signed a “safe third country” deal with Paraguay to help share the responsibility of managing irregular migration. Rwanda also confirmed earlier this month that it would take up to 250 migrants from the US, but said it would have “the ability to approve each individual proposed for resettlement.”

Other countries, including Panama and Costa Rica, had earlier agreed to host several hundred African and Asian migrants under similar deals. Government documents suggest that the administration has also approached Ecuador and Spain for possible cooperation.

Since starting his second term, President Trump has prioritized mass deportations of undocumented migrants, a central pledge of his campaign. In June, the US Supreme Court allowed the government to move forward with deporting people to countries that are not their homeland, without requiring an assessment of the dangers they might face there.

Three liberal justices — Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson — dissented from the ruling, calling it “a gross abuse.” United Nations rights officials and international human rights groups have also warned that deporting people to third countries could breach international law.