JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Eswatini authorities confirmed the arrival of four additional African migrants deported from the United States on Thursday, marking the third such group transferred to the small southern African kingdom under the Trump administration’s controversial immigration policy. These individuals—comprising one Tanzanian, one Sudanese, and two Somali nationals—represent the latest among over 40 deportees sent to African nations through largely clandestine agreements that have drawn sharp criticism from human rights organizations.
The US government has established third-country deportation partnerships with at least seven African nations including Ghana, Rwanda, Uganda, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and South Sudan. Since July, Washington has dispatched at least 19 individuals to Eswatini across three separate transfers as part of its stringent immigration enforcement strategy. US officials previously characterized the initial group of five men sent in July as convicted criminals with standing deportation orders, one of whom—a Jamaican national—was subsequently repatriated to his home country in September.
Eswatini’s government stated that one third-country national has already received travel documentation and will soon depart the country, while negotiations continue regarding the remaining individuals’ repatriation to their countries of origin. The kingdom’s administration emphasized its “commitment to ensuring that the rights and dignity of the third-country nationals are upheld while they remain in the country.”
These deportations to Eswatini—a nation where the monarch wields absolute power and has faced accusations of suppressing pro-democracy movements—have provoked strong reactions from local civic groups. According to a recent report compiled by Democratic staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Trump administration has allocated at least $40 million to deport approximately 300 migrants to countries other than their own across Africa, Central America, and other regions.