DR Congo receives ‘third country’ sports from US under new deal | Migration News

DRC government says sport will begin this month, under a ‘temporary’ arrangement paid for by the US.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) says it is expected to receive “third-country” citizens who were deported from the United States under a new deal with the administration of US President Donald Trump.

The DRC will start receiving sports this month, the Congolese communications ministry said in a statement on Sunday, without providing further details on the number of arrivals expected.

It described the arrangement as a “temporary” one that reflected Congo’s “commitment to human dignity and international solidarity”.

As part of the arrangement, the US will pay for the deportations, and the Congolese government will not face any costs, the statement said.

The announcement comes as the Trump administration continues efforts to broker a peace deal between the DRC and Rwanda and to secure US access to critical Congolese minerals.

Experts criticize third country agreements

The United States has sent sports from third countries to African countries, including Ghana, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Eswatini, drawing criticism from legal experts and rights groups over the legal basis for the transfers and the treatment of sports sent to countries where they are not nationals.

Last week, rights groups in Uganda announced that a dozen sports would arrive in the country after a deal with Trump.

In a statement, Uganda Law Society Vice President Asiimwe Anthony said the group had gone to court to challenge the deportation.

“Our perspective of the case is broader than a single act of deportation. We see it as just one taste of the ill winds of transnational oppression blowing across our world,” Anthony said.

“This development and the associated illegalities that accompany it are reminiscent of a dark past that the global family of humanity supposedly put behind itself in pursuit of the ideal that every human being is born equal.”

According to the US Committee on Refugees and Immigrants, deportations from third countries have been “systematically pursued” since February 2025.

“Individuals subject to third-country deportation typically have no choice as to where they are sent, a practice that raises serious due process and human rights concerns, especially when the receiving country may not be safe,” the committee says.

According to a report released by the Democratic staff of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Trump administration spent at least $40 million to deport about 300 migrants to countries other than their own.