Uganda senior official denies agreement reached with US to take deportees

Uganda's state minister for foreign affairs is denying a media report that his country had agreed to take in deportees from the U.S., saying they lacked the facilities to accommodate them.

"To the best of my knowledge we have not reached such an agreement," Uganda State Minister for Foreign Affairs Henry Okello Oryem told Reuters on Wednesday.

"We do not have the facilities and infrastructure to accommodate such illegal immigrants in Uganda."

CBS News reported on Tuesday, citing internal U.S. government documents, that the U.S. had made deportation deals with Uganda and Honduras to send deportees to them, countries the illegal immigrants are not from. The agreements were based on a provision of immigration law that allows aslyum-seekers to be rerouted to other countries that the U.S. believes can fairly hear their claims.

Uganda has about 2 million refugees and asylum-seekers, mostly from the nearby countries of the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and Sudan.

Honduras's government did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

The Trump administration has sought to deport convicted criminals to South Sudan and Eswatini.