by Sharelle B. McNair
August 21, 2025
Uganda hosts roughly two million refugees and asylum-seekers
Uganda and the U.S. have reached an agreement that the African nation will take in deported migrants but only if they don’t have a criminal record, Associated Press reports.
International Relations Minister Henry Okello Oryem said while Uganda is globally known for its migrant or refugee policy, there are limits as the U.S. has made some mistakes before. Back in July 2025, the U.S. deported five men with criminal backgrounds to Eswatini and eight more to South Sudan.
The Ugandan foreign affairs ministry released a statement saying, the “two parties are working out the detailed modalities on how the agreement shall be implemented,” however, the country is looking to lay out some parameters – first being preferring accepted migrants be of African descent. Oryem was questioned about why the country is so open to accepting people that were rejected by their own countries.
He responded saying it’s not everyone that is accepted. “We are talking about cartels: people who are unwanted in their own countries. How can we integrate them into local communities in Uganda?” he asked. Oryem also mentioned discussion of “visas, tariffs, sanctions, and related issues” and not accepting illegal aliens from the U.S. being “unfair to Ugandans.”
As it is unclear if the agreement has been signed, the ministry stated it has been “concluded.”
This is one of the Trump administration’s latest moves in its quest to face America’s alleged immigration issue head on. As a U.S. ally, Uganda hosts roughly two million refugees and asylum-seekers, mostly coming from countries in the same East African region such as Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Sudan. The help from the Ugandians is interesting as just two years ago in 2023, the U.S. restricted visas from officials accused of undermining democracy and repressing marginalized groups.
The help from Uganda may come at the right time as Trump’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) team has been ordered to sniff out any “anti-American” views or activities from immigrants applying for immigration benefits such as green cards and work permits in effort to deny their applications, according to CBS News.
USCIS officials have been instructed to determine whether applicants applying for certain immigration benefits have “endorsed, promoted, supported, or otherwise espoused anti-American views or the views of a terrorist organization or group” – including social media posts. Such groups could include organizations that promote alleged antisemitic views and terrorism. Top spokesperson for the organization, Matthew Tragesser, said U.S. immigration benefits should not be permitted to people who “despise the country.”
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