The number of migrants deported from the United States to Eswatini under a controversial third-country removal program has risen to 29 after 11 more people arrived in the southern African kingdom on Wednesday.
Alma David, a U.S. lawyer representing some of the deportees sent to Eswatini last year, confirmed the latest arrivals to Reuters in a text message. David, who remains in contact with sources inside the country’s prison system, said the new group has already been transferred to Matsapha Maximum Correctional Centre near Mbabane, a facility that has faced repeated criticism over its treatment of detainees.
The transfers are part of a $5.1 million agreement between Washington and Mbabane, an arrangement that continues to face legal challenges. Lawyers involved in the case argue that many of those deported had already completed prison sentences in the United States but remain imprisoned in Eswatini instead of being released.
According to David, only two of the 29 deportees have since left Eswatini. One was repatriated to Jamaica and the other to Cambodia. The remaining 27 are still being held.
An Eswatini government spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
Eswatini is one of several African countries, alongside Rwanda, South Sudan and Ghana, that the Trump administration has relied on to accept migrants who cannot easily be returned to their home countries, often because those governments refuse to receive them. The policy has also seen deportees sent to countries in Asia and the Americas.
Human rights organizations and immigration lawyers have condemned the third-country deportation program, arguing it denies migrants meaningful due process and shifts long-term detention to countries with weaker human rights protections. Earlier deportees sent to Matsapha, including men from Cuba, Laos, Vietnam and Yemen, were reportedly kept in solitary confinement for months without formal charges, fueling ongoing legal disputes over prison conditions and access to detainees.
By: Andrews Kwesi Yeboah