DR Congo to receive ‘third-country’ deportees from the US under new deal

DRC gov’t says deportees will begin to arrive this month, under a ‘temporary’ arrangement paid for by the US.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) says it is expected to receive “third-country” nationals who have been deported from the United States under a new deal with the administration of US President Donald Trump.

The DRC will begin receiving deportees this month, the Congolese Ministry of Communications said in a statement on Sunday, without providing further details on the number of arrivals expected.

It described the arrangement as a “temporary” one that reflects Congo’s “commitment to human dignity and international solidarity”.

As part of the arrangement, the US will pay for the deportations, and the Congolese government will face no costs, the statement said.

The announcement comes as the Trump administration continues efforts to broker a peace deal between the DRC and Rwanda and to secure US access to Congolese critical minerals.

Experts criticise third-country agreements

The United States has sent third-country deportees to African countries including Ghana, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Eswatini, drawing criticism from legal experts and rights groups over the legal basis for the transfers and the treatment of deportees sent to countries ⁠where they are not nationals.

Last week, legal groups in Uganda announced that a dozen deportees were set to arrive in the country after a deal with Trump.

In a statement, the vice president of the Uganda Law Society, Asiimwe Anthony, said that the group had gone to court to challenge the deportation.

“Our perspective of the matter is broader than a single act of deportation. We view it as but one gust from the ill winds of transnational repression that are blowing across our world,” Anthony said.

“This development and the attendant illegalities that accompany it are reminiscent of a dark past that the global family of humanity supposedly put behind itself in the pursuit of the ideal that every human being is born equal.”

According to the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, third-country deportations have been “systematically pursued” since February 2025.

“Individuals subject to third-country deportation typically have no choice in where they are sent, a practice that raises serious due process and human rights concerns, particularly when the receiving country may not be safe,” the committee states.

According to a report released by the Democratic staff of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Trump administration has spent at least $40m to deport about 300 migrants to countries other than their own.