Burkina Faso, ruled by a junta hostile to the West, has refused to take in people kicked out of the United States, in a snub to one of President Donald Trump’s signature migration policies.
Since Trump’s return to the White House, his administration has made deporting people to third countries — often to nations they have no connection to — part of a sweeping immigration crackdown.
In Africa, Eswatini, Ghana, Rwanda and South Sudan have all accepted people expelled from the United States in recent months.
But late on Thursday, Burkina Faso’s foreign affairs minister said the west African country had refused Washington’s overtures.
“Naturally, this proposal, which we considered indecent at the time, runs completely contrary to the principle of dignity,” Karamoko Jean-Marie Traore said on national television.
Hours earlier, the US embassy in the capital Ouagadougou announced the suspension of regular services for most visas for people living in Burkina Faso.
Instead, Burkinabe citizens will now have their services handled in Lome, the capital of neighbouring Togo.
“Is this a way to put pressure on us? Is this blackmail? Whatever it is… Burkina Faso is a place of dignity, a destination, not a place of expulsion,” Karamoko Jean-Marie Traore said.
Captain Ibrahim Traore, the leader of Burkina Faso, describes himself as a Pan-African strongman who opposes imperialism.
He has cultivated deeper connections with Russia and avoided the wider West and old colonial ruler France since taking power in a coup in September 2022.
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