Uganda’s lawyers’ association has announced that more than a dozen deportees from the United States are scheduled to land in Uganda following an agreement with President Donald Trump.
On Thursday, the Law Society of Uganda and the East African Law Society announced they had gone to court to challenge the deportation, calling it an “undignified, harrowing and dehumanizing process.”
Recommended stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
“We have approached the courts in Uganda and the region for a bespoke remedy to stop the international illegality of this patent,” Asimwe Anthony, vice president of the Law Society of Uganda, said in a statement.
“Our perspective on this issue is broader than a single act of deportation. We see this as just another gust of wind of transnational oppression blowing around the world.”
Thursday’s deportation marks the first confirmed case of deportees being transferred from the United States to Uganda.
The 12 people reportedly landed on a private plane at Entebbe International Airport, about 40 kilometers from Kampala. No identifying information was provided about the deportees.
But the deportations are the latest example of President Trump’s broader efforts to send immigrants to “third countries” with whom they have no personal ties and may not speak the language.
Scrutiny of forced return to a third country
So far, President Trump has signed agreements with many countries to accept expelled foreign nationals. These include at least six African countries, including Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Rwanda, Eswatini and South Sudan.
The agreement with Uganda was revealed in August last year. The country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that the agreement was a “temporary arrangement” and priority would be given to deportees from other African countries.
The agreement does not allow for unaccompanied children or people with criminal records, the ministry said in a statement at the time.
It is unclear whether Uganda received compensation for its decision to accept deportation to a third country.
But other countries have signed multi-million dollar contracts. El Salvador was given nearly $6 million to imprison deportees from the United States, Equatorial Guinea $7.5 million and Eswatini $5.1 million.
There is no official estimate of the total value of these third-country deals, but U.S. Senate Democrats estimate that at least $40 million was provided as an incentive to accept deportations.
Democrats added that most of these funds were paid out in one lump sum before the deportees arrived. They also note that these funds are separate from the additional cost of deportation flights: Operating U.S. military aircraft can cost $32,000 per hour.
“Through expulsion agreements, the Trump administration is putting millions of taxpayer dollars into the hands of foreign governments while turning a blind eye to the human cost,” Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said in a statement in February.
“For an administration that claims to be perpetuating fraud, waste, and abuse, this policy is the epitome of all three.”
Critics also question whether countries hosting people expelled from the United States are safe enough.
The United States has in the past criticized Uganda for “gross human rights violations,” citing extrajudicial killings, life-threatening prison conditions, and reports of torture and other degrading treatment by government agents.
He also pointed out that in Uganda there are government restrictions on human rights and civil society organizations, and consensual same-sex acts are illegal.
Uganda already hosts nearly 1.7 million refugees and asylum seekers fleeing violence in neighboring countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan, according to the United Nations.
“Authoritarian project”?
Anthony, vice president of the Uganda Law Society, said in a letter Thursday that the U.S. deportations are part of a “broader authoritarian project” that the group is forced to oppose.
“This development and its attendant illegal activities are reminiscent of the dark past that the global human family allegedly put behind itself in pursuit of the ideal that all humans are created equal,” Anthony wrote.
He added that US actions under the Trump administration are paving the way for similar policies in other regions.
“In the United States, the militarization of society has given occupied democracies in Africa carte blanche to continue their despotism unchecked.”
Still, the Trump administration has defended the deportations as legal under the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act, which has a loophole for deportations to “safe third countries.”
The Trump administration has also cited diplomatic guarantees from “third countries” in question that deportees from the United States will not face persecution.
However, “third country” policies face many legal challenges. The U.S. Supreme Court has largely allowed such deportations to proceed, but a lower court ruled again in February that the policy could violate immigrants’ due process rights.
In the case of Salvadoran immigrant Kilmer Abrego García, lawyers even argued that his deportation to a country far from his home was evidence of a “vindictive spirit” on the part of the Trump administration.
Mr. Garcia was wrongfully deported in March 2025 and returned to the United States in June, only to face deportation proceedings again.
Since returning to the White House for a second term in 2025, President Trump has pursued an aggressive plan for mass deportations.
At least 675,000 people were expelled under his administration as of January, according to U.S. government figures.
