US deports 5 migrants convicted of crimes to Eswatini

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Mbabane, Eswatini | AFP

The United States has deported five migrants convicted of crimes to the small African kingdom of Eswatini, ruled by an absolute monarch accused of human rights abuses, officials have said.

The deported migrants are nationals of Cuba, Jamaica, Laos, Vietnam and Yemen.

The deportation of migrants to countries which are not their own is part of US President Donald Trump's campaign promise to expel millions of undocumented migrants from the United States.

His administration has defended so-called third-country deportations as necessary, since the home nations of some of those targeted for removal sometimes refuse to accept them.

But rights experts have warned the deportations risk breaking international law by sending people to nations where they face the risk of torture, abduction and other abuses.

"These criminal illegal aliens are so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back," the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wrote on Tuesday on X.

They were convicted of violent crimes such as child rape and murder, according to the DHS.

Eswatini's government said the five men were being held in isolated units at a correctional facility and would "facilitate the transit of these inmates to their countries of origin".

"The nation is assured that these inmates pose no threat to the country or its citizens," government spokesman Thabile Mdluli said in a statement.

An immigration official told AFP the men arrived in the capital, Mbabane, aboard a US military plane and were transferred directly to waiting vehicles under heavy security.

The men were taken to Matsapha Maximum Correctional Centre, located some 31 kilometres (19 miles) south of Mbabane, a prison official told AFP, on condition of anonymity.

"The deported hardened criminals were admitted here... in the new cells which have just been built," he said.

The facility, notorious for detaining political prisoners, has an official capacity of 550 inmates and faces ongoing issues with overcrowding and poor living conditions.

Africa's last absolute monarchy

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has taken a number of actions aimed at speeding up deportations of undocumented migrants to countries that are not their own.

The US Supreme Court in June paved the way for the Trump administration to resume such deportations.

Washington deported eight other migrants to conflict-plagued South Sudan earlier this month.

US authorities have said that the eight men -- two from Cuba, two from Myanmar, and one each from Vietnam, Laos, Mexico and South Sudan -- are convicted violent criminals.

Eswatini, the last absolute monarchy in Africa, has been led by King Mswati III since 1986.

The 57-year-old ruler has been criticised for his lavish lifestyle and has faced accusations of human rights violations.

His country, formerly known as Swaziland, is landlocked by neighbours South Africa and Mozambique.