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Deportees from the United States (US) will begin arriving in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in April, following the DRC’s new deal with the US, the Congolese Ministry of Communications said on Sunday.
The DRC Ministry of Communications described the deal as “temporary”, adding that the DRC’s agreement with the US reflects the country’s “commitment to human dignity and international solidarity.”
This deal makes the DRC the latest African country to accept deportees from the US. At least seven other African countries have entered into third-country deportation deals with the US. Some of these countries include Ghana, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Eswatini.
According to the ministry, the Congolese Government will incur no cost and the US will cover the logistics. US President Donald Trump’s administration has spent at least $40 million to deport about 300 migrants to countries other than their own, according to a report released recently by the Democratic staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
A key bone of contention in many such agreements is that they involve many migrants with protection orders from a U.S. immigration judge barring their return to their home countries due to major safety concerns.
Human rights lawyers and activists have raised eyebrows over the nature of the deals with countries in Africa and elsewhere. Several of the African nations that have signed such deals have notoriously repressive governments and poor human rights records, including Eswatini, South Sudan and Equatorial Guinea.
Congo’s government said no automatic transfer of the deportees is planned, adding: “Each situation will be subject to individual review in accordance with the laws of the Republic and national security requirements.”
The exact dates of the deportees’ arrival remain unknown.
