5 immigrants deported by the US to Eswatini in Africa are held in solitary confinement

Politico

17 hours ago

The men, who the U.S. says were convicted of serious crimes and were in the U.S. illegally, are citizens of Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, Yemen and Laos. Their convictions included murder and child rape, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said, describing them as 'uniquely barbaric.'
Their deportations were announced by Homeland Security on Tuesday and mark the continuation of President Donald Trump's plan to send deportees to third countries they have no ties with after it was stalled by a legal challenge in the United States.
Eswatini, a country of 1.2 million people bordering South Africa, is the latest nation to accept third-country deportees from the U.S. The Trump administration has sent hundreds of Venezuelans and others to Costa Rica, El Salvador and Panama, and deported eight men earlier this month to South Sudan, also an African country.
The deportees to South Sudan are citizens of Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Vietnam and South Sudan. They were held for weeks in a converted shipping container at a U.S. military base in the nearby country of Djibouti until a Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for them to be finally sent to South Sudan. The U.S. also described them as violent criminals.
Eswatini's government confirmed on Wednesday that the latest five deportees were in its custody after landing on a deportation plane from the U.S.
Local media reported they are being held at the Matsapha Correctional Complex, outside the country's administrative capital of Mbabane, which includes Eswatini's top maximum-security prison.
The Eswatini government said the men are 'in transit' and will eventually be sent to their home countries. The U.S. and Eswatini governments would work with the U.N. migration agency to do that, it said.
The U.N. agency — the International Organization for Migration or IOM — said it was not involved in the operation and has not been approached to assist in the matter but would be willing to help 'in line with its humanitarian mandate.'
Eswatini's statement that the men would be sent home was in contrast to U.S. claims they were sent to Eswatini because their home countries refused to take them back.
It's unclear how sending the men to Eswatini would make it easier for them to be deported home. There was also no timeframe for that as it depends on several factors, including engagements with the IOM, Mdluli said.