US Strikes Deportation Deals with Honduras, Uganda Amid Rights Concerns

The Trump administration has expanded its immigration enforcement strategy by securing bilateral deportation agreements with Honduras and Uganda, allowing the U.S. to send migrants who are not nationals of these countries back to them under a "safe third country" provision. Uganda will accept African and Asian migrants without criminal records, though the exact number remains unspecified, while Honduras has agreed to take several hundred deportees from Spanish-speaking countries over two years, including families with children, with the possibility of increasing this number. These deals are part of a broader diplomatic campaign involving at least a dozen countries across Africa, Central America, and South America to share the responsibility of managing illegal immigration, particularly for migrants who cannot be deported directly to their home countries due to diplomatic or safety concerns. The administration emphasizes these agreements as crucial to its mass deportation efforts, despite criticism regarding the human rights records of some partner nations. The U.S. has also recently signed a "safe third country" agreement with Paraguay and courted other countries like Rwanda, Panama, and Costa Rica for similar arrangements. The Supreme Court has allowed the resumption of deportations under these policies, reinforcing the administration’s robust immigration crackdown.