Burundi has agreed to receive migrants deported from the United States who are not Burundian nationals, becoming the latest African country to participate in Washington’s controversial third-country deportation policy.
The Burundian government said it would impose conditions on those transferred under the arrangement.
Presidential spokesperson Nancy Ninette Mutoni said Burundi would only accept people who are not accused of criminal offences and have no links to terrorism.
Details surrounding the agreement remain limited.
The government has not disclosed the number of people Burundi could receive, when transfers would begin or whether Washington will provide payments or other financial support under the arrangement.
Government Begins Planning for Arrivals
Burundian authorities say preparations are already underway to determine how migrants would be accommodated and integrated into local communities.
Those preparations include questions surrounding housing, food, living conditions and coexistence with residents.
Mutoni said receiving third-country deportees would require serious planning rather than simply allowing people to arrive without support arrangements.
The government has also left open the possibility that some migrants could eventually qualify for Burundian citizenship under existing law.
Mutoni said individuals who choose to integrate and make a valuable contribution to national development would be treated according to the country’s legal framework.
Policy Expands Across Africa
Burundi joins several African countries that have entered arrangements with Washington involving migrants who are neither citizens nor, in some cases, people with previous ties to the receiving country.
The policy forms part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to increase deportations.
It received an important legal development this week when the US Supreme Court allowed third-country deportations to continue while litigation over the policy proceeds.
Rights Groups Raise Legal Concerns
Human-rights organisations have criticised third-country deportations, arguing that they can undermine protections granted to migrants who cannot safely be returned to their countries of origin.
In some cases, deportees had obtained legal protection from repatriation through US immigration courts.
Critics argue that transferring those individuals to another country can effectively bypass those protections.
US authorities, however, have defended third-country removals as part of their immigration enforcement powers.
The Burundian agreement therefore adds another African country to an immigration policy that is generating legal, diplomatic and human-rights debate on both sides of the Atlantic.
For Bujumbura, significant practical questions remain unanswered, particularly how many migrants will arrive, what resources will support them and how long-term integration will be managed.
