Speaking to the national broadcaster on Sunday, May 4, Nduhungirehe said that the details of the deal remain confidential as discussions are still ongoing.

“We are now in talks with the US about a migration deal,” he said. “This is not the first time we have been involved in such agreements. Rwanda has previously worked on migration deals with the UK, the United Nations, and the African Union, particularly in efforts to evacuate stranded migrants from Libya.”

He pointed out that the negotiations align with Rwanda’s previous engagements in migration agreements. He added that the full agreement would be disclosed once it is approved.

Nduhungirehe stressed that the discussions with the US government are purely bilateral and not linked to any regional conflict resolution initiatives, such as the Washington-mediated process for the eastern DR Congo conflict.

According to US media reports, the proposed agreement could involve Rwanda receiving migrants with criminal records who have already served their sentences in the US. Unlike other countries that detain deportees, Rwanda would reportedly integrate them into society, CNN reported on May 1.

The reports indicate that the cost structure for the deal is still being finalized and is expected to be higher per individual compared to deportations to countries like El Salvador, largely due to Rwanda’s commitment to providing social support rather than incarceration.

Discussions reportedly date back to the early days of the second Trump administration, when a diplomatic note was sent to several countries to explore their interest in collaborating on deportation efforts.

In July last year, Rwanda reaffirmed its commitment to addressing the global migration crisis, even after UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer scrapped an asylum seeker transfer deal signed by his predecessors.

Since 2017, the Rwandan government and the UN refugee agency have collaborated on an initiative that saw more than 2,400 stranded asylum seekers transferred from Libya to Rwanda. More than 1,800 of these asylum seekers had been resettled in third countries by September 2024.

Rwanda hosts up to 130,000 refugees, mainly from DR Congo and Burundi.