DRC: government announces agreement with the United States on the reception of expelled migrants

In detail, this mechanism provides for the supervised reception of migrants expelled by the United States, under modalities jointly defined between Kinshasa and Washington, as our correspondent in Kinshasa, Pascal Mulegwa, points out. The Congolese government emphasizes that this is neither a permanent relocation program nor an outsourcing of the US migration policy. The stay of the individuals concerned is announced to be strictly temporary.

Each case will undergo an individual examination, in accordance with Congolese laws and national security requirements, the government specifies. No automatic transfer will be authorized. Reception sites have already been identified in the outskirts of Kinshasa.

What is not known is how many people are involved, when they will arrive, and what the DRC is getting in return. No official response to these questions has been provided. RFI sources also indicate that this migration agreement is distinct from the strategic partnership signed between Kinshasa and Washington last December. Negotiations reportedly began after this signature.

##Civil society, not reassured by the agreement

Congolese civil society, at least, is not reassured. Timothée Mbuya, from the NGO Justicia ASBL, points out the opacity of this agreement: “Neither the Congolese population, nor the national deputies and senators were informed. There was also no public debate around these agreements. Congo is not a dumping ground to receive individuals or persons who are rejected or not accepted in other countries. Our country does not have sufficient infrastructure to accommodate this kind of people.”

For other voices in civil society, the priority should be to take care of the over six million internally displaced Congolese. While the press release does not mention any direct counterpart, this agreement comes in a context of enhanced cooperation between the two countries: economically, with a minerals agreement in exchange for security, and in the health sector with a promise of $900 million from the United States.

To understand the context, one must look at what is happening elsewhere. In February 2026, the minority Democrat in the Senate published a report on these expulsion agreements to third countries. According to the document, over $32 million has been transferred to five countries – Rwanda, Equatorial Guinea, El Salvador, Eswatini, and Palau – to accommodate around 300 migrants. The report highlights agreements concluded in opacity, with governments with disputed human rights records.

According to diplomatic sources cited in this report, the countries targeted by Washington share common characteristics: low development level, limited institutional protections, relative isolation. These characteristics, according to these sources, facilitate the quick conclusion of discreet agreements.

Regarding the pursued objectives, the senatorial report cites American officials who openly speak of deterrence: the goal is to discourage asylum seekers, push them to give up their asylum claims, or even return on their own.

The Democrat minority concludes that this mechanism primarily serves a political display logic, rather than a coherent migration policy. These are accusations that the Trump administration disputes. The DRC, on the other hand, has not commented on these criticisms.