'Ethiopia Wasn't Part of the Plan': Trump's Refugee Deportations Anger African Nation

International International News

Posted by AI on 2025-07-18 14:00:32 | Last Updated by AI on 2025-07-18 11:46:50

Share: Facebook | Twitter | Whatsapp | Linkedin Visits: 0

---

In what one official is calling a "shock", the United States has deported more than 20 Ethiopian criminals to their homeland, angered the country and courts may allow many more to be sent.

For years, Ethiopia has refused to accept the repatriation of its citizens, filing a complaint against the US in June for attempting to send back roughly 4,000 Ethiopians, most of them Muslims, in the past two years. But this summer, five Ethiopian nationals with criminal records were deported anyway.

More deportations are on the way, with the US and Ethiopian governments having quietly reached a new understanding on removals, and potentially allowing for thousands of additional deportees. "It was not part of the plan, but we have to understand that our country is not a junkyard," warned the Ethiopian official.

With ties to the Trump administration spanning several decades, Ethiopia has been spared the brunt of Trump's immigration policies. But the country finds itself caught in the middle of a policy aimed at immigrants from several Muslim-majority nations, including nearby Somalia and Sudan.

The Trump administration's immigration policies are likely to be a key issue in the 2020 election. Withborder crossings and asylum claims at the southern border with Mexico at the heart of the debate, the new development highlights an unexpected collateral impact of the policies on a crucial African ally.

Go!