Burkina Faso has refused to take in people deported from 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.
However, late on Thursday, Burkina Faso’s foreign affairs minister stated that the West African country had rejected 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.
Burkina Faso’s leader, Captain Ibrahim Traore, since taking power in September 2022, has pursued policies that promote anti-imperialism, shunning former colonial ruler France and the wider West.