Over 200 aliens face deportation after arrest in crackdown

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The over 230 foreign nationals arrested in an illegal migration crackdown are set to be deported, the internal affairs ministry has said.

Ministry spokesperson Simon Peter Mundeyi confirmed the development on April 30, 2026, saying the first batch had already been processed to Nakawa Court pending deportation expected to take place between Monday and Tuesday next week.

Speaking to journalists at Mestil Hotel in Kampala city, Mundeyi said, “Nakawa Court is going to work on the first batch, and we hope by Monday, Tuesday, we shall have finalised this.”

Once in court, “they read for you the offence, and then you pay the fine, and then immediately leave the country. We are going to do deportations and organised removals.”

Detention space constraints

He revealed that authorities had received “intelligence that there are groups of other foreign nationals in areas such as the districts of Kampala, Adjumani and Mbarara whom they were supposed to pick, but that the challenge remained space of detention given that they cannot be held in Police detention facilities due to international standards.

“When we talk of space, when we arrest these people, we are not going to host them in our office. They are supposed to sleep in the detention facility. And as immigration world over, we are supposed to have detention facilities different from our local prisons,” Mundeyi said.

“These people, we give them special meals. Somebody will tell you, I don’t eat posho. Somebody will tell you, I have a certain condition that doesn’t allow me to taste beans. So, we have got to have the facilities to ensure that these people are hosted well. And secondly, they are not hardcore criminals, so we have got to treat them well as we process their deportation,” he added.

“We have been given information that there are several cells around Kampala, even in Mbarara. Remember, we picked one group from Adjumani. We are told there’s another group in Adjumani where we have to go and harvest them and bring them here,” he said.

He said that they want to deal with the deportation of the group in detention before they could arrest others.

The arrests

The Government announced the arrest of more than 200 foreign nationals in a crackdown on Tuesday (April 28, 2026).

In a subsequent statement, the internal affairs ministry said enforcement teams from the National Citizenship and Immigration Control (NCIC) carried out two major intelligence-led operations in Adjumani and Kampala, where 231 suspects were detained.

It added that in the first operation, conducted on April 27 in Adjumani, 62 Nigerian nationals were arrested for allegedly operating without valid work permits. The authorities disclosed that the group was engaged in various activities, including running a church.

In yet another raid in the Bukoto–Ntinda area of Kampala, immigration officers arrested 169 foreign nationals, according to the ministry. They were picked from a tightly controlled apartment complex without valid immigration documentation.

They included people from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Ghana, Myanmar, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Malaysia.

The operations, according to the authorities, are intelligence-led, with reports that large groups of foreigners were living and working in Uganda without the requisite papers to do so.

At the time of arrest, the ministry indicated that many did not have passports, among other documents.

“Some individuals have claimed they were trafficked into Uganda with promises of employment. Others were engaged in cyber-scamming activities. While a few were found in possession of materials suggesting involvement in other criminal activities,” Mundeyi said.

However, according to Mundeyi, those found to have broken the laws of Uganda will face criminal prosecution, as others are deported after paying fines.