Eswatini says it will repatriate immigrants deported by United States

Eswatini announced on Wednesday that it would repatriate the five immigrants deported there by the United States. 

In a late-night post on X Tuesday, US Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said five men — citizens of Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, Yemen and Laos — had been deported to Eswatini.

She said they were all convicted criminals and “individuals so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back.”

Eswatini became the latest nation to take part in the Trump administration’s third-country deportation programme. 

The kingdom's involvement drew some criticism from the opposition. 

"We condemn the bringing of hardcore convicts to our country to mix with our young convicts who still have a chance to be rehabilitated", said Mphandlana Shongwe, a political activist from the People’s United Democratic Movement.

“We can approach the courts, the International Court of Justice, or any other legal institutions to possibly complain." 

Prince Bailey, from the Swaziland United Democratic Front, said the deportations made Eswatini look like "a dumping site [for] those people that the American government view as unworthy to be in their own country."

Eswatini government spokesperson Thabile Mdluli said in a statement that the deportees paused “no security threat to the nation" and were being held in correctional facilities within isolated units while "on transit."

She said the country was working with the US and the International Organization for Migration to "facilitate" their repatriation. The government gave no timeframe for that to happen.

The US has already deported eight men to another African country, South Sudan, after the Supreme Court lifted restrictions on sending people to countries where they have no ties.

The US also has sent hundreds of Venezuelans and others to Costa Rica, El Salvador and Panama.