Burundi has agreed to accept deportees from the United States who have no previous connection to the East African country.
A Spokesperson for President Évariste Ndayishimiye, Nancy Ninette Mutoni, said Burundi would accept only deportees who were not facing prosecution and had no links to terrorism.
Mutoni disclosed this during a government event in Ngozi in northern Burundi, saying preparations were underway to provide accommodation and support for the deportees to integrate into local communities.
She, however, did not disclose when the deportees would arrive or the number of people Burundi had agreed to receive.
“Receiving them requires serious planning where they will stay, what they will eat and how they will live alongside the local population,” Mutoni said.
The development comes as the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump expands its policy of deporting migrants to third countries as part of its immigration crackdown.
Under the policy, people may be sent to countries where they are neither citizens nor have previously lived.
The United States had already sent deportees to several African countries, including Eswatini and South Sudan.
However, a U.S. appeals court ruling last week has cast uncertainty over the programme.
Lawyers representing immigrants said a flight carrying about 70 people from Louisiana to Burundi, Rwanda and the Central African Republic had been scheduled but was later cancelled.
The court ruling did not prohibit third-country deportations but required that people facing removal be given a meaningful opportunity to raise concerns about possible persecution or torture.
The Trump administration has defended the policy, saying “it is necessary when migrants’ countries of origin refuse to accept them.”
AP
