The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) announced Sunday that it will receive third-country deportees from the US as part of a new arrangement between the two nations, signaling ongoing Trump administration efforts to continue its controversial removal practices.

DRC’s statement said the nation will begin to accept deportees in April, and the US will cover costs to facilitate the deal. The government called the arrangement “temporary” and did not disclose how many deportees it will receive. The nation pledged to an ongoing “commitment to human dignity and international solidarity” regarding arrivals, who will be held at sites near capital city Kinshasa.

The announcement coincided with reports that the US sent a dozen individuals to Uganda last week as part of a separate third-country deportation agreement with the neighboring African nation.

The US has entered into similar third-county deportation agreements with several nations, including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Eswatini, Ghana, Rwanda and South Sudan. Legal activists and rights groups have criticized the practice, arguing that sending migrants to a non-home country threatens death or torture without due process. Such transfers are often chaotic, with deportees reportedly held in military detention camps and transported in straight jackets with few hours notice.

Ongoing lawsuits continue to examine the efficacy of the practice. In February, a federal district court ruled that the policy violated congressional mandates and Fifth Amendment, due process principles. The Trump administration appealed and, in March, a federal appellate court placed a stay on the lower court order while litigation continued.

Third-country deportations have also received attention through high profile media coverage, including coverage of Kilmar Ábrego García. In October 2025, the US considered sending Ábrego García to Liberia, despite federal court findings that he was mistakenly swept up in deportation proceedings. In March, Ábrego García accused US prosecutors of vindictively charging him with human smuggling.

The US has acted as a primary peace broker for ongoing conflict between Rwanda and the DRC, in which the Rwanda government has allegedly backed rebel militia forces in the DRC. After sanctioning Rwanda for its support of armed-groups, in March the US announced both African nations agreed to coordinated de-escalation steps.

US involvement in the region follows its growing efforts to gain access to DRC’s rich mineral resources and “rare-earth” elements. In December 2025, the US State Department published a strategic partnership agreement with the DRC, stating a desire to strengthen national ties and “secure…supply chains for critical minerals, safeguarding [US] national security…and maintaining competitiveness in strategic sectors including defense, energy, advanced technologies, and automotive industries.”