Eswatini denies agreement to receive Kilmar Abrego Garcia as US deportee

The government of Eswatini on Thursday denied it had an agreement with the United States to receive Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadorian national who faces deportation from the US. 

The Trump administration said last week that Abrego Garcia could be sent to the African kingdom, after he expressed fear of deportation to Uganda. He has no ties to Eswatini.

But an Eswatini government spokesperson said the country had "not received any communication" regarding Abrego Garcia.

"Any proposal to send more deportees to Eswatini will be discussed between the governments of Eswatini and the United States of America prior to initiating processes, and the country will be properly informed," government spokesperson Thabile Mdluli told Reuters.

The Trump administration has been seeking to send deportees to so-called "third countries", especially if their home states do not accept them. 

Ghana on Thursday said it had received a group of 14 West African nationals from the US. In July, the US deported eight people to South Sudan, and five others to Eswatini. 

The five men deported to Eswatini have been held in a maximum-security prison for seven weeks without charge or explanation and with no access to legal counsel, their lawyers said last week.

The Eswatini government is now facing a court challenge from human rights lawyers and NGOs over the acceptance of third-country deportees. Plaintiffs argue that their country's deal with the US is unconstitutional.

The face of Trump's immigration policy

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 30, became a flashpoint in Trump’s immigration crackdown when he was wrongfully deported to his native El Salvador in March. 

The Trump administration claimed he was a member of the MS-13 criminal gang, an allegation that Abrego Garcia denies and for which he wasn’t charged. 

The administration returned Abrego Garcia to the US in June, but only to face human smuggling charges. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have called the case preposterous and vindictive.

Abrego Garcia was released from a Tennessee jail to await his trial last month. He was taken into immigration custody three days later and remains in a Virginia detention center. He hopes to apply for asylum to stay in the US.