Fifteen people deported from the US, who are reportedly from South America, have arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
This is the first group of an unknown number of people that the US has expelled which the DR Congo had agreed to take in.
The government in Kinshasa has stressed that their stay in the country is only temporary and that Washington is funding “their reception, support and care”.
The US has already sent deportees to several other African countries, including Ghana, South Sudan and Eswatini, as part of the crackdown on immigration.
Earlier this month, when details of the deportation deal first emerged, the Congolese government said the decision to receive what are known as third-country migrants – that is those who come from neither the sending nor receiving nation – aligns with its commitment to human dignity, to protecting the rights of migrants and international solidarity.
The Congolese authorities also said that the scheme was not a “permanent relocation mechanism or an outsourcing of migration policies”.
The US State Department said that while it did not comment on “diplomatic communications with other governments” the administration remained “unwavering” in its “commitment to end illegal and mass immigration and bolster America’s border security”.
The US has deported dozens of people to third countries since President Donald Trump came to power in January last year as part of its hard-line approach towards immigration.
“The individuals concerned are admitted to the national territory under short-stay permits, in accordance with national legislation concerning the entry and residence of foreigners,” a Congolese government statement said on Friday without giving any more details about the deportees.
But a source at N’djili International Airport, where the group landed in the early hours of Friday, told the BBC that they were mostly Colombians and Peruvians.
According to a minority report from the US senate’s committee on foreign relations, the Trump administration has “likely” spent more than $40m (£30m) in third-country deportations up to January 2026, although the total cost is “unknown”.
The US has provided more than $32m “directly” to five countries – Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, El Salvador, Eswatini and Palau – it added.
The US is also negotiating a minerals deal with DR Congo to help gain access to the central African country’s vast reserves of key metals such as cobalt, tantalum, lithium and copper.
Under Trump, the US has facilitated a peace deal between DR Congo and Rwanda, although implementation remains a challenge.
At the conclusion of a fresh round of talks between the Congolese government and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, both sides, who have been fighting in the east of the DR Congo, say they will allow in humanitarian aid, protect civilians and their infrastructure, and begin monitoring a permanent ceasefire.
Delegates at the negotiations in Switzerland, mediated by the US and Qatar, said they were encouraged by their progress toward ending the conflict.
Rwanda has repeatedly denied supporting the M23 despite overwhelming evidence, saying its military presence is a defensive measure against threats to its security by armed groups in DR Congo.
