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Eswatini's King Mswati III
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Mbabane - The Trump administration has continued its policy of deporting immigrants to third-party countries, sending five individuals to the small, landlocked African nation of Eswatini — raising fresh concerns among human rights advocates.
In a statement on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Eswatini government confirmed that the country had received the five individuals deported from the United States, describing the move as “the result of months of robust high-level engagements.”
"The five prisoners are in the country and housed in correctional facilities within isolated units, where similar offenders are kept," government spokesperson Thabile Mdluli said. However, she acknowledged that there were human rights concerns about accepting deportees whose countries of origin were not Eswatini.
"As a responsible member of the global community, the Kingdom of Eswatini adheres to international agreements and diplomatic protocols regarding the repatriation of individuals, ensuring that due process and respect for human rights are followed," Mdluli said.
She added that Eswatini would work with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) “to facilitate the transit of the inmates to their countries of origin.”
The deportations are part of a broader trend under the Trump administration of removing foreign nationals to countries other than their own, particularly when their home countries refuse to accept them. While the White House has defended these actions as necessary, critics say they expose deportees to significant risks, including torture and inhumane treatment.
Concerns have also been raised about due process rights, with reports that deportations are being carried out so swiftly that individuals have little chance to challenge their removal in court.
On Tuesday, US Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin confirmed the deportations to Eswatini, identifying the deportees as citizens of Laos, Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, and Yemen.
"A safe third-country deportation flight to Eswatini in Southern Africa has landed," McLaughlin said on social media. "This flight took individuals so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back."
She claimed the deportees had been convicted of serious crimes including murder, child rape, and assault, describing them as “depraved monsters” who had “been terrorizing American communities.”
Since taking office for a second term in January, President Trump has expanded his push for mass deportations, increasingly sending alleged criminals to countries that have been widely criticized for human rights abuses.
In March, the administration deported an estimated 200 Venezuelans to El Salvador, where they were reportedly shaved and detained in the country’s maximum-security Terrorism Confinement Centre (CECOT) — a prison described by some rights groups as having conditions akin to torture. The US reportedly paid nearly $6 million for their incarceration.
In May, reports emerged that the administration planned to deport immigrants to Libya — a move blocked by a federal court after officials in Libya denied any agreement had been reached. Lawyers representing the affected immigrants said a deportation flight was halted on the airport tarmac following the court’s injunction.
Later that same month, a flight carrying eight deportees destined for South Sudan — another country with a record of human rights abuses — was diverted to Djibouti after a federal court ruled the men had not been given an adequate opportunity to contest their deportations. However, on June 23, the US Supreme Court lifted the lower court’s block, allowing the deportations to South Sudan to proceed.
In a strongly worded 19-page dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor criticized the ruling as a “gross” abuse of the court’s power, accusing the administration of acting without regard for due process or human rights protections.
"The Government has made clear in word and deed that it feels itself unconstrained by law, free to deport anyone anywhere without notice or an opportunity to be heard," she wrote.
Critics fear similar outcomes for the five immigrants sent to Eswatini, a country of about 1.2 million people governed by King Mswati III, Africa’s last absolute monarch. Human rights organizations have accused his government of violently suppressing dissent, including the alleged killing of dozens of pro-democracy protesters in 2021.
Despite these concerns, the Eswatini government defended its decision to accept the deportees, framing it as part of its longstanding relationship with the United States.
"The Kingdom of Eswatini and the United States of America have enjoyed fruitful bilateral relations spanning over five decades," Wednesday’s statement read. "Every agreement entered into is done with meticulous care and consideration, putting the interests of both nations at the forefront."
Meanwhile, a memo obtained by The Washington Post this week suggests that Trump administration officials have knowingly pursued deportations to countries where credible diplomatic assurances against torture or persecution may be lacking. The memo, dated July 9, stated that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could remove non-citizens to third-party countries even without such assurances, as long as certain conditions were met — and with as little as six hours’ notice in “exigent circumstances.”
Human rights advocates say the deportations to Eswatini underscore their fears that US immigration policy under Trump is endangering vulnerable individuals, while eroding international norms around the protection of basic rights.
Source: Al Jazeera
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