Burundi has agreed to accept migrants deported from the United States who have no previous connection with the East African country, becoming the latest African nation to participate in the Trump administration’s expanding third-country deportation programme. The arrangement was announced by Nancy Ninette Mutoni, spokesperson for Burundian President Évariste Ndayishimiye, although officials have not disclosed how many people Burundi is expected to receive, when the deportations could begin or whether the United States will provide financial assistance under the agreement.
Under the arrangement, Burundi will accept people deported from the US provided they are not facing criminal prosecution or linked to terrorism. Mutoni said preparations were already under way to determine how the arrivals would be accommodated, supported and integrated into local communities. She indicated that the government would need to make arrangements concerning housing, food and living conditions before the deportees arrive.
Burundian authorities have presented the agreement partly as a diplomatic opportunity and partly as a humanitarian gesture. Mutoni said the country wanted to strengthen its relationship with the United States while offering hospitality to people in need. She also suggested that migrants who eventually decide to settle in Burundi and contribute to the country’s development could be allowed to pursue citizenship in accordance with Burundian law.
The agreement comes as the Trump administration has expanded a policy under which migrants are removed from the US to countries other than their countries of origin. Since Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2025, the administration has entered agreements with 35 countries allowing deportations to third countries. More than 25,000 people have reportedly been sent to countries other than their own, including destinations across Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and central Asia. Around 20,000 others have been transported by bus to Mexico, according to figures cited by Refugees International and Human Rights First.
The policy has attracted considerable scrutiny because many of those deported have little or no connection to the countries receiving them. Human rights organisations and immigration lawyers have argued that such arrangements can create serious risks for people who may already have fled persecution or violence in their countries of origin. In some cases, deportees have subsequently faced the possibility of being transferred to the countries from which they originally escaped.
The US administration has defended the deportation programme as an important part of its immigration enforcement strategy and has said its focus is on removing people who have criminal records or otherwise have no legal right to remain in the country. However, investigations into the programme have identified cases involving people who said they had no criminal histories and had previously received protection from US immigration courts because of fears of persecution if returned to their home countries.
The financial arrangements surrounding the agreements have also come under scrutiny. According to records reviewed as part of an international investigation, the US administration has pledged at least $410 million to secure deportation agreements with 35 countries. Nearly one-third of those countries are in Africa. In some cases, US funds have been channelled towards programmes operated by international organisations in countries receiving deportees.
Burundi’s announcement also comes amid an ongoing legal dispute in the United States over the third-country deportation policy. On September 29, the US Supreme Court temporarily allowed the Trump administration to resume deportations to third countries without giving migrants an opportunity to challenge their removal on the basis that they might face persecution or torture in the destination country. The court’s order temporarily lifted a lower-court ruling while the broader legal dispute proceeds, with the Supreme Court scheduled to hear arguments in December. Three liberal justices dissented from the order.
The legal battle has centred on whether migrants must receive adequate notice and a meaningful opportunity to raise concerns about conditions in the country to which they are being sent. Lawyers representing deportees have argued that individuals should be able to make fear-based claims before being transferred. The US government has maintained that countries agreeing to receive deportees have already undertaken not to persecute or torture them.
The third-country policy has also drawn criticism from United Nations-linked human rights experts. In late September, 24 experts warned that sending migrants to unfamiliar countries could expose them to torture, trafficking, disappearance, discrimination and other abuses. They called for the policy to be halted, arguing that people sent to countries with which they have no connection can face heightened vulnerability, particularly when the receiving country is dealing with conflict, poverty or limited institutional capacity.
The Burundi agreement therefore adds another country to an increasingly broad network of governments cooperating with Washington on migrant removals. For now, however, key details of the arrangement remain unclear. Neither the number of deportees nor the timetable for their arrival has been announced, and financial terms have not been made public. Burundi’s foreign ministry has also indicated that further details were not immediately available, while the US State Department had not responded to requests for comment at the time of the announcement.
