Burundi agrees to take Trump's 'third-country' deportees despite vague details and recent court ruling

From the Newshound archive · first published 30 September 2026.

Burundi has agreed to accept migrants deported from the United States with no connection to the East African country, making it the latest nation to join Trump's controversial third-country deportation programme. The arrangement was announced by Nancy Ninette Mutoni, a spokesperson for Burundi's president, at a government event in Ngozi, though she gave no figures or timeframe. The Trump administration has previously used the same scheme to send deportees to Eswatini and South Sudan. The agreement comes only days after a US appeals court ruling called its legality into question.

Mutoni said Burundi would only accept deportees who are not facing prosecution and have no links to terrorism.

A flight carrying around 70 deportees bound for Burundi, Rwanda and the Central African Republic was cancelled in the wake of last week's court ruling.