By KT Reporter
The United States’ recent expulsions of third-country nationals to Eswatini, Ghana, Rwanda, and South Sudan have exposed several hundred people to risks of arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, and refoulement, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Monday. The opaque agreements that facilitate these transfers, some of which include US financial assistance, violate international human rights law and instrumentalize human suffering as a deterrent to migration, HRW said.
“These agreements make African governments partners in the Trump administration’s horrifying violations of immigrants’ human rights,” said Allan Ngari, Africa advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “The African governments implementing these deals risk violating international law, including the prohibitions against refoulement and arbitrary detention.”
In August 2025, Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo reportedly said the country had agreed to accept up to 250 deportees—far more than Eswatini or South Sudan—under an agreement that includes roughly $7.5 million in US financial support. Rwanda’s past involvement in similar arrangements with Israel, its abandoned negotiations with the United Kingdom, and its own record of repression raise serious doubts about whether it can provide effective protection for deportees.
HRW reviewed the written agreement between the US and Eswatini, under which Washington will provide $5.1 million to “build [Eswatini’s] border and migration management capacity.” In return, Eswatini will accept up to 160 deportees. So far, at least five people from Cuba, Jamaica, Laos, Vietnam, and Yemen have been sent there and are reportedly being held in harsh conditions at Matsapha Correctional Complex. Authorities have said they are preparing to receive another 150 people, but lawyers and civil society groups are challenging the legality of their detention.
In South Sudan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation confirmed on September 4 that it was holding seven foreign nationals deported from the US in July. An eighth person, a South Sudanese national, was released to his family. On September 6, authorities announced the repatriation of one Mexican national to Mexico but failed to clarify the whereabouts and legal status of the other six detainees. HRW said this lack of transparency and due process protections underscores the dangers of such transfers.
In Uganda, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed a temporary bilateral cooperation agreement with the US under which it will receive third-country deportees. The ministry stated that individuals with criminal records or unaccompanied minors would not be accepted, and preference would be given to people of African origin. In Ghana, President John Mahama confirmed that his government had agreed to accept third-party nationals removed from the US, limited to West African nationals. So far, five citizens of Nigeria and The Gambia have been expelled under this agreement.
Notably, US immigration judges had granted all five fear-based relief—either withholding removal under the US Immigration and Nationality Act or deferring removal under the Convention against Torture. One of the deportees, a bisexual man from The Gambia, said in a sworn US court declaration that Ghanaian authorities returned him to his country of origin after his expulsion.
The case highlights the dangers of these agreements, which can result in people being sent back to places where US courts had already determined they faced a serious risk of persecution or torture. Given the abusive US immigration policies underlying these agreements, HRW urged African governments to reject new deals and terminate those already in effect.
In the interim, governments should disclose the terms of the agreements, allow access to independent monitors, refrain from detaining deportees without clear legal justification, and ensure that no one is returned to a country where they face persecution, enforced disappearance, torture, or other serious harm.
“As the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights special rapporteur on refugees has said, these agreements cannot override governments’ human rights obligations,” Ngari said. “The African Union should reiterate that deportations that do not afford people an opportunity to seek protection from persecution or torture are unlawful, abusive, and unacceptable.”
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