Fourth group of deportees from US arrive in Eswatini

US President Donald Trump, seen here at a NATO summit in Turkey on July 8, 2026, has made a sometimes violent crackdown on immigration a hallmark of his second term in the White House. By SAUL LOEB (AFP)

The United States deported about a dozen people to Eswatini on Wednesday, an American immigration lawyer and local sources told AFP, the latest expulsion to the repressive southern African country.

The deportees were not from Eswatini, in line with the unprecedented "third-country" deportation deal struck by Washington that has seen people from around the world sent there.

An AFP investigation found that the US has offered multimillion-dollar deals and threatened visa restrictions in a bid to get countries to take deportees -- part of President Donald Trump's wide-ranging immigration crackdown.

Alma David, a US immigration attorney familiar with some of the deportees' cases, said 11 people were sent to Eswatini, including at least two who have legal protection that advocates say should shield them from deportation.

A local source put the number at nine. Their nationalities were unclear but another source said those details would emerge when they are processed tomorrow morning.

Eswatini has already received 19 deportees since July 2025. Two of them -- a Jamaican and Cambodian -- have been repatriated, but 17 remain in a high-security prison, held without charge.

A government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said an official convoy had travelled to the main international airport "to process and receive new US deportees".

ICE Flight Monitor, a tracker affiliated with non-profit Human Rights First, identified two small planes that took off from the southern US state of Louisiana on Tuesday, refuelled in Senegal, and then landed in Eswatini on Wednesday afternoon.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to a request for comment.

'Deeply abusive'

Eswatini, Africa's last absolute monarchy, confirmed last year it had received around $5.1 million from the United States to accept the deportees.

According to a document revealed by Human Rights Watch and seen by AFP, Eswatini agreed to take 160 deportees in exchange for funds to strengthen its border and migration management capacity.

Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, has been led by King Mswati III since 1986.

His government has been accused of human rights violations and Amnesty International has called the deportation scheme "deeply abusive".

Trump in his second term has expanded who is eligible for deportation, targeting those with legal protections that under previous administrations allowed them to live and work in the US for fear of persecution in their home countries.

Washington has argued that legally it is only barred from sending such people home directly.

While countries like Eswatini have held US deportees indefinitely, other countries, such as Ghana, have quickly sent the deportees they received back to their home countries.

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