PRISTINA, Dec 12 (Reuters) – Kosovo has started accepting migrants deported from the United States and who are not originally from Kosovo, caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti said late on Thursday.
Kosovo agreed to a request from President Donald Trump’s administration to initially take in 50 deportees.
“We are accepting those that the U.S. did not want on their territory,” Kurti told Kanal10 television.
He gave no details on which countries they were from, and said only one or two have arrived so far.
Washington is looking for partners to receive third-party nationals as it seeks to deliver on Trump’s promise of record-level deportations.
Kosovo, a Balkan country of 1.6 million people, already has a deal in place to receive 300 foreign prisoners from Denmark from 2027 in return for 210 million euros over the next decade, and has expressed interest in receiving deportees from Britain.
Kosovo-U.S. relations are particularly strong, given Washington’s lead in supporting independence from Serbia in 2008.
(Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
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