The central African nation of Rwanda is in discussions with the Trump administration about a possible deal to accept deported migrants from the United States, the country's foreign minister said late Sunday.
Olivier Nduhungirehe told state broadcaster Rwanda TV that early talks were under way, according to Reuters. The news followed multiple news reports that the United States was seeking an international partnership to deport people amid an ongoing crackdown on foreign visa holders, student activists and people suspected of being criminal gang members.
"We are in discussions with the United States," Nduhungirehe said in the interview, according to Reuters. "It has not yet reached a stage where we can say exactly how things will proceed, but the talks are ongoing ... still in the early stages."
The Rwandan government in the capital, Kigali, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House was also asked for comment overnight.
On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump promised to carry out the “largest deportation operation” in U.S. history, and in office he has deported many to El Salvador and elsewhere, with ongoing legal action questioning the legality of some arrests, detentions and removals.
Trump said on NBC News' "Meet the Press" in an interview that aired Sunday that he didn't know whether he needed to uphold the Constitution in pursuing his goal of deporting what he called "some of the worst people on Earth."
The Supreme Court has said in three recent rulings that the government has to allow basic due process rights for immigrants, such as appearing before immigration judges, before they can be deported.
Despite the huge publicity his migrant crackdown has generated, Trump deported fewer immigrants in February than President Joe Biden’s administration did in the same month last year.
Rwanda has long offered to be a place for Western nations to send deported criminals and failed asylum-seekers, despite concerns from human rights groups about the 30-year rule of President Paul Kagame and his backing of a violent rebellion in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.
Rwanda signed a deal with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in 2022 to accept deported foreign nationals — but Johnson and two more prime ministers after him failed to make the deal work, as British and European courts stopped scheduled flights of deported migrants on human rights grounds.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer scrapped the arrangement after his Labour Party took power last year. Starmer said the scheme cost Britain about 700 million pounds ($929 million) and resulted in just four people being deported.
The U.K.'s Rwanda scheme was inspired in part by Australia's long-standing policy of deporting what it says are violent criminals to the island nation of Nauru. Other European nations have launched similar schemes, including Italy, whose far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, signed a deal to send migrants to Albania.
