Burkina Faso has refused a US request to accept deported individuals, rejecting one of President Donald Trump’s key migration policies.

The West African country, ruled by a junta critical of Western influence, has resisted Washington’s push to transfer people to third countries, often with whom they have little or no connection. In contrast, African nations such as Eswatini, Ghana, Rwanda, and South Sudan have recently agreed to accept individuals expelled from the United States.

Burkina Faso’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Karamoko Jean-Marie Traore, said the proposal was “indecent” and violated the country’s principles of dignity.

Earlier on Thursday, the US embassy in Ouagadougou announced that regular visa services for most Burkinabe citizens would be suspended, with applicants now required to seek assistance in Lome, 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,” Traore said.

Since seizing power in a September 2022 coup, Captain Ibrahim Traore has positioned himself as an anti-imperialist, Pan-African leader, distancing the country from France and the West while forging closer ties with Russia.