US Deports Five Convicted Migrants to Eswatini Amid Outcry

• Jul 16, 2025

The US government has deported five migrants convicted of serious crimes to Eswatini, a small country in southern Africa.

According to Assistant Secretary for Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin, the deportees were from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Cuba, and Yemen. They had been found guilty of crimes including child rape and murder. McLaughlin described them as "criminal illegal aliens" and called their removal a success in keeping dangerous individuals out of American communities.

In a post on social media platform X, McLaughlin wrote, "This flight took individuals so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back." She later added that the deportation flight had landed safely in Eswatini and stated, “They are off of American soil.”

The Eswatini government has not issued any official comment on the arrival of the deportees. However, the country had previously been mentioned in media reports as one of the nations willing to accept deportees from the US. Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, is landlocked by South Africa and Mozambique and has been ruled by King Mswati III since 1986.

President Donald Trump’s administration has taken a hardline stance on immigration, making mass deportations a key part of its policy. The president has repeatedly emphasized removing individuals who entered the country illegally, and his efforts have gone beyond undocumented migrants. His administration has also targeted immigrants on student visas, suspended most refugee admissions except for white South Africans, and moved to end work permits and protections introduced by earlier presidents.

Workplace raids, which had been paused under President Joe Biden, have resumed under Trump’s leadership. Additionally, last month, the US Supreme Court gave the green light for deporting migrants to countries other than their nations of origin.

Earlier this month, eight other deportees from different countries were flown to South Sudan after a series of delays. In response to South Sudan’s reluctance to accept them, the US revoked visas for all South Sudanese passport holders.

Other countries reportedly in talks with the US about receiving deportees include Rwanda, Benin, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, and Moldova. Meanwhile, Nigeria recently rejected pressure from the Trump administration to accept Venezuelan deportees or prisoners from third countries.