KIGALI, Rwanda — The first of 250 migrants expected to be taken in by Rwanda under an agreement with President Donald Trump’s administration have arrived in the African nation. Seven migrants deported from the US arrived in mid-August.
“The first group of seven vetted migrants arrived in Rwanda in mid-August,” said Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo. She did not provide details on their nationalities, only explaining that four would remain in Rwanda, while three chose to return to their home countries.
Rights groups have expressed concern that such deportations could violate international law if individuals are sent to countries where they might face torture or other forms of abuse.
Since beginning his second term in January, President Trump has prioritized a sweeping mass deportation scheme to remove undocumented migrants from the US. 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.
She added that the deported individuals were being housed by “an international organisation” and would be visited by the International Organization on Migration (IOM) and Rwandan social services. An IOM spokesperson confirmed to the AFP news agency that it had seen the migrants to “assess their basic needs,” without providing further details.
Earlier this month, Ms. Makolo told Vivid Voice News that Rwanda was proceeding with the deal because “nearly every Rwandan family has experienced the hardships of displacement.”
Rwanda, which experienced a genocide in the mid-1990s, has been proactive in extending help to other migrants, maintaining that it can provide a safe place for them despite criticism of its human rights record.
Under a separate agreement with the UN refugee agency and African Union, nearly 3,000 refugees and asylum seekers who were stranded in Libya were evacuated to Rwanda between September 2019 and April 2025. The UN reports that many of these individuals have since been resettled elsewhere.
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Rwanda had a previous agreement with the UK, which was established by the Conservative government in 2022 to accept asylum seekers. However, the UK’s Labour government, led by Sir Keir Starmer, scrapped the scheme in July of last year after it faced numerous legal challenges.
The UK had paid Rwanda £240 million ($310 million) and even built facilities to house the asylum seekers, though the current status of these facilities is unclear. It is also not clear if there is a financial component to Rwanda’s most recent deal with the US.
In June, the Trump 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 involved in the conflict in neighboring DR Congo, an accusation it has consistently denied.
