Burkina Faso rejects proposal to accept deportees from the US
[October 10, 2025]
By MARK BANCHEREAU
DAKAR,
Senegal (AP) — Burkina Faso says it has refused a proposal from the
Trump administration to accept deportees from the United States.
The West African country was asked whether it would accept non-citizens
expelled by the U.S., in addition to its own nationals, Foreign Minister
Karamoko Jean-Marie Traoré said Thursday on national television. |
Burkina Faso Foreign Minister Karamoko Jean Marie Traore attends a joint
news conference following a meeting of Russian foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov with foreign Ministers of the Confederation of Sahel States in
Moscow, Russia, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov, Pool, File) |
|
“Naturally, this proposal, which we deemed indecent at the time,
is totally contrary to the value of dignity which is part of the
very essence of the vision of Capt. Ibrahim Traoré,” he said,
referring to the country's military ruler.
The remark came only a few hours after the U.S. Embassy in the
capital Ouagadougou suspended most visa services for Burkina
Faso residents, redirecting applications to its embassy in
neighboring Togo. The embassy did not give a reason for the
move.
Citing a U.S. diplomatic note accusing Burkinabe nationals of
not complying with visa usage rules, Karamoko Jean-Marie Traoré
called the move a possible “pressure tactic” and said, “Burkina
Faso is a land of dignity, not deportation.”
The U.S. Embassy in Ouagadougou and Department of Homeland
Security didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
More than 40 deportees have been sent to Africa since July after
the Trump administration struck largely secretive agreements
with at least five African nations to take migrants under a new
third-country deportation program. Rights groups and others have
protested the program.
The U.S. has sent deportees to the small African nation of
Eswatini, South Sudan, Rwanda and Ghana. It also has an
agreement with Uganda, though no deportations there have been
announced.
Six deportees are still detained in an unspecified facility in
South Sudan, while Rwanda hasn’t said where it is holding seven
deportees. Eleven of the 14 deportees sent to Ghana last month
sued the government there for holding them in what they
described as terrible conditions at a military camp on the
outskirts of the capital, Accra.
Human Rights Watch said last month the Trump administration
offered financial incentives to some African countries to accept
deportees. The rights group said it reviewed written agreements
showing Eswatini will receive $5.1 million in U.S. funding for
migration and border management while Rwanda will receive $7.5
million.
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