Rwanda-US migrant deal’s first group of deportees arrive, says spokesperson

Seven migrants deported from the US have arrived in Rwanda, the first of 250 expected to be taken in by the African state under a deal reached with President Donald Trump’s administration.

“The first group of seven vetted migrants arrived in Rwanda in mid-August,” Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo said.

She gave no details about their nationalities, only explaining that four of them would remain in Rwanda, with three opting to return to their home countries.

Rights groups have warned that such deportations could breach international law if people are sent to countries where they risk torture or other abuses.

Trump has focused on a sweeping mass deportation scheme to remove undocumented migrants from the US since starting his second term in January.

So far, at least a dozen nations have agreed to accept deported migrants from other countries.

“Regardless of their specific needs, all of these individuals will receive appropriate support and protection from the Rwandan government,” Ms Makolo told Rwanda’s pro-government New Times news site.

Those deported were being accommodated by “an international organisation” and would be visited by the International Organization on Migration (IOM) and Rwandan social services, she added.

An IOM spokesperson confirmed to the AFP new agency that it had seen the migrants to “assess their basic needs”, without giving further details.

Earlier this month, Ms Makolo told the BBC that Rwanda was going ahead with the deal as “nearly every Rwandan family has experienced the hardships of displacement”.

Rwanda went through a genocide in the mid-1990s – and the government has been keen to extend help to other migrants, maintaining it can provide a safe place for them despite criticism of its human rights record.

Under an agreement reached with the UN refugee agency and African Union six years ago, nearly 3,000 refugees and asylum seekers trapped in Libya were evacuated to Rwanda between September 2019 and April 2025. The UN says many of these people have subsequently been resettled elsewhere.

Rwanda had a deal with the UK, agreed with the Conservative government in 2022, to accept asylum seekers.

But the UK scrapped the scheme, which faced numerous legal challenges, after Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government took office in July last year.

The UK had paid Rwanda £240m ($310m), even building places to house the asylum seekers. It is not clear what has happened to these facilities.

It is also not clear if there is a financial element to Rwanda’s most recent deal.

In June, Trump’s administration oversaw the signing of a peace deal in Washington between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of an ongoing peace process aimed at ending three decades of instability in the region.

Kigali has been accused of backing the M23 rebel group embroiled in the conflict in neighbouring DR Congo – an accusation it has denied.