What to Know About the US Deporting Criminal Illegal Immigrants to Eswatini

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on July 15 that five illegal immigrants have been deported to the African nation of Eswatini.

This serves as part of the Trump administration’s promise to deport illegal immigrants, even if they cannot be sent to their nation of origin.

According to Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin’s post to X on the topic, all of the individuals  were convicted criminals and “so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back.”

Convictions for the illegal immigrants included murder, child rape, battery, assault with a deadly weapon, grand theft auto, cruelty to a dependent adult, and numerous other charges.

One of the individuals was also a confirmed gang member.

The men in question were citizens of Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, Yemen, and Laos.

McLaughlin went on to say that they were found to “have been terrorizing American communities,” but now are “off of American soil.”

These deportations follow eight illegal immigrants who were sent by the United States to South Sudan, also in Africa, shortly after the Supreme Court lifted a lower court’s restriction on the practice.

From Eswatini 

Eswatini, referred to by the government as the “Kingdom of Eswatini,” is a small landlocked nation in southern Africa, between Mozambique and South Africa, and it is slightly smaller than New Jersey.

The nation’s population was estimated at 1,138,089 in 2024 and is made up predominantly of the Swazi people, also known as emaSwati.

The nation also hosts smaller populations of other African ethnic groups, including Zulu.

An Eswatini government official said on X that the deportees had arrived and posed “no security threat to the nation.”

Acting government spokesperson Thabile Mdluli said that the deportees will be sent to their respective countries and that they’re currently being held “where similar offenders are kept.”

“This exercise is the result of months of robust high-level engagements between the U.S. government and Eswatini,” Mdluli said.

“The two governments will collaborate with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to facilitate the transit of these inmates to their countries of origin.

“The Kingdom of Eswatini and the United States of America have enjoyed fruitful bilateral relations spanning over five decades. As such, every agreement entered into is done with meticulous care and consideration, putting the interests of both nations at the forefront.”

The nation also promised to be a “responsible member of the global community” and to ensure that “due process and respect for human rights are followed” in dealing with deportees.

Roughly 90 percent Christian, Eswatini has a small population of Muslims and followers of other indigenous faiths.

Rulings on Third Countries

Previously, a federal district court issued an injunction on April 18 that prevented DHS from exercising its authority to remove illegal immigrants to a country from which they did not originate or have any ties.

The court said that the procedures “have usurped the president’s authority over immigration policy” and “are currently wreaking havoc on the third-country removal process.”

However, DHS submitted an emergency application with the nation’s high court asking for a review of the order, arguing that there is a “crisis of illegal immigration, in no small part because many aliens most deserving of removal are often the hardest to remove.”

The government secured an agreement from a number of countries that have assisted in the United States’ deportation efforts by accepting noncitizens into their countries.

On June 23, the Supreme Court temporarily lifted a lower court order in the case known as the Department of Homeland Security v. D.V.D. that blocked the deportations of illegal immigrants to third countries to which they have no connection.