Rwanda has become the third African nation to reach an agreement with the Trump administration to accept migrants deported by the United States.
The Rwandan government announced Tuesday that it had agreed to accept up to 250 sports from the United States for resettlement, but gave no further details, including when they would arrive or what Rwanda would receive in return.
The United States has already deported eight men it said were dangerous criminals to South Sudan and five others to Eswatini.
Here's what we know—and what we don't yet know—about Trump's expanding third-country deportation program in Africa and the largely secret agreements the United States is forging.
Neither the State Department nor the Department of Homeland Security have responded to requests for further details about the agreements in Africa.
South Sudan
The United States sent eight men from South Sudan, Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, and Vietnam to South Sudan in early July after their deportations were delayed by a legal challenge. This led to them being held for weeks in a container at a U.S. military base in nearby Djibouti.
US Officials said the men had been convicted of violent crimes in the United States.
When it took custody of them a month ago, the South Sudanese government promised to guarantee their "safety and well-being," but has declined to provide other details, including where they are being held and what their fate might be.
South Sudan has been plagued by conflict since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011 and is on the brink of a new civil war.
Eswatini
Two weeks after the deportations to South Sudan, the United States announced it had sent five more men—citizens of Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, Yemen, and Laos—to the small kingdom of Eswatini in southern Africa.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said they were also violent criminals whose countries of origin had refused to take them back.
The Eswatini government said the men would be held in solitary confinement until their repatriation, later saying that they could take up to a year. A human rights lawyer in Eswatini has sued authorities, alleging that the men are being denied legal representation while detained in a maximum-security prison and questioning the legality of detaining them indefinitely after they have already served their criminal sentences in the United States.
US Authorities did not identify the men or say whether they had been deported directly from prison or detained in another way.
Eswatini, which borders South Africa, is one of the world's last absolute monarchies. King Mswati III has ruled since turning 18 in 1986. Authorities under his rule are accused of violently repressing pro-democracy movements in a country where political parties are virtually banned.
Rwanda
Rwanda's agreement with the United States comes after a controversial migration pact it reached with the United Kingdom in 2022 collapsed and was ruled illegal by the British Supreme Court. Under that agreement, people seeking asylum in the United Kingdom were to be sent to Rwanda, where they would remain if their asylum claims were approved.
The failed deal ultimately cost the UK nearly $1 billion in public money, including around $300 million it gave to Rwanda and never recovered.
