Original Date Announced

Eswatini has agreed to accept third-country nationals deported by the United States. The signed Memorandum of Understanding is dated May 14, 2025, and promises Eswatini $5.1 million from the United States "to build its border and migration management capacity." Eswatini joins several other African countries accepting third-country deportees, such as Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Equatorial Guinea, South Sudan, and Rwanda.

Trump 2.0 [ID #2431]

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.07.17 Reported: Men deported by US to Eswatini in Africa will be held in solitary confinement for undetermined time - AP

Associated Press reports that the Trump administration removed five citizens of Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, Yemen, and Laos to Eswatini. All five are reportedly being held in solitary confinement. According to the Trump administration, the five men "were convicted of serious crimes" in the United States and had been jailed prior to their deportation. The Eswatini government expressed its plan to ultimately repatriate the five to their home countries "with the help of a United Nations agency," and said that they were considered to be "in transit." The Eswatini government also confirmed that the terms of the U.S.-Eswatini agreement "remain classified."

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.09.02 Reported: 3 deported by U.S. held in African prison despite completing sentences, lawyers say - PBS News

PBS News reports that three men deported by the United States to Eswatini in July have been held in a maximum-security prison for seven weeks without charges or legal counsel, despite completing their U.S. sentences. None of them had ever been to the country. Lawyers say a Jamaican national was "inexplicably" deported to Eswatini despite Jamaica's willingness to take him back, after DHS falsely claimed his home country had refused him.

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2026.09.10 Reported: 32 people were forcibly sent to Eswatini on five flights between July 15, 2025 and August 27, 2026 - Third Country Deportation Watch

Third Country Deportation Watch reports that the U.S. has forcibly sent 32 people to Eswatini on five flights on July 15, 2025; October 6, 2025; March 11, 2026; July 8, 2026; and August 27, 2026. The people removed to Eswatini were nationals of Cambodia, Chad, Cuba, Ethiopia, Haiti, the Philippines, Vietnam, Somalia, Tanzania, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Jamaica, Cameroon, Mauritania, Belize, Central African Republic, Yemen, Laos, and Mexico.

As of September 10, 2026, 26 of the 32 men transferred to Eswatini remain arbitrarily detained in Eswatini. Several individuals, including men from Jamaica, Cambodia and Yemen, returned from Eswatini to their countries of origin.

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2026.10.04 Reported: Lao man deported by the US to Eswatini is released after more than a year in prison - Associated Press

Associated Press reports that a Laotian citizen was held in a maximum-security prison in Eswatini for fourteen months after the U.S. deported him to Eswatini in July 2025. The Laotian citizen has no ties to Eswatini, and was one of five noncitizens deported to the country in July 2025. He had completed a prison sentence in the U.S. when he was deported to Eswatini and detained for more than a year. He has now been deported from Eswatini to Laos. AP quotes his U.S.-based lawyer saying, “He had already served his time. Instead they put him on a plane without telling him where it was headed and left him in a prison in a country he had never heard of, where nobody ever accused him of anything. He sat there for more than a year. No notice, no hearing, no chance to object. That is not due process by any definition.”