At least eight migrants deported from the US arrived in Uganda on Wednesday. The Ugandan Foreign Ministry only admitted on Friday that it had taken in the deportees after a statement from the Ugandan Law Society (ULS) was widely reported in the media.
On Thursday, the ULS and the East Africa Law Society published one joint statement They announced that 12 people were about to be forcibly removed from the US and “deported” to Uganda. According to ULS, the twelve people were supposed to arrive on board a private plane without the involvement of the relevant state institutions such as the Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control. Ultimately, according to the two bar associations, no policy document or law has been presented to oversee the transfer of people from the United States to Uganda.
The deportees who arrived in Uganda were Africans, but not Ugandans, the Foreign Ministry statement said. The State Department received the migrants in accordance with the Agreement to cooperate in the examination of applications for protection signed by the USA and Uganda in July 2025. This Safe Third Country Agreement allows the expulsion of nationals of other African countries to Uganda in accordance with the principles of non-refoulement. This means that no one should be sent back to a country where they are at risk of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Article 4 of the agreement provides that operational procedures will be designed to implement the agreement. It is not clear whether these procedures have been developed.
“Third-country deportations” like these are permitted under U.S. law following a lawsuit that brought the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2025. The Supreme Court has stayed an injunction while the case is pending.
The Uganda deportation agreement is similar to the one between the United States and El Salvador. In May 2025, hundreds of Salvadorans and Venezuelans were deported under this agreement. In September, five migrants aboard a similar flight were allegedly held in straitjackets for 16 hours after being captured by ICE and then flown to Ghana.
It is unclear whether the eight people whose arrival the Ugandan Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday are among the dozens the UBA claims were due to arrive. The two law firms commit to fighting the “dehumanizing” deportation agreement in court.
