Bujumbura will take only people who are not accused of crimes and have no links to terrorism, Mutoni said.Officials are working on accommodation, living conditions and ways to help the new arrivals settle into local communities. Mutoni said the plan needs careful thought on where people will stay, how they will be fed and how they will live alongside Burundians. Those who choose to settle and contribute to national development could seek citizenship, she added, as long as the law is followed.
Burundi joins several African countries that have received so-called third-country deportees, meaning people sent to a nation that is not their own. Eswatini and South Sudan have been among earlier destinations. The agreements with Washington have been opaque, and Senate Democrats say they have cost tens of millions of dollars. The Trump administration defends the approach as necessary when migrants’ home countries refuse to take them back.
In many cases, deportees had won protection from US immigration courts against being returned to their home countries. Rights groups argue that sending them to third countries allows the US to get around those protections.
The announcement gave no figures, timeline or financial terms. The US State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and a spokesperson for Burundi’s foreign ministry said details of the agreement were not yet available.
