Burundi has agreed to accept people deported from the United States who have no ties to the East African country, Nancy Ninette Muthoni, a spokeswoman for President Evarist Ndayishimiye, said last night, as quoted by the Associated Press.
Burundi will only accept people who are not subject to criminal prosecution and have no links to terrorism, she said during an event attended by government officials in Ngozi.
Muthoni did not specify when the deportees would arrive or how many people the country had agreed to accept. She added that preparations are already underway to provide housing and help deportees settle into local communities.
"Receiving them requires serious planning - where they will live, what they will eat and how they will coexist with the local population," Muthoni noted.
The Trump administration has expanded the practice of deportations to third countries as part of its crackdown on illegal immigration, sending people to countries of which they are not citizens and where they may never have lived. The United States has already sent deportees to several African countries, including Eswatini and South Sudan.
A U.S. appeals court ruling last week called the program into question. According to migrant advocates, a flight carrying about 70 people was scheduled to travel from Louisiana to Burundi, Rwanda and the Central African Republic but was canceled.
The ruling does not prohibit deportations to third countries, but it requires that people facing deportation have a real opportunity to raise concerns about possible persecution or torture. The Trump administration defends the policy, arguing that it is necessary in cases where deportees' home countries refuse to accept them.