BURSTThe United States has deported 10 more migrants to Eswatini, a country in southeast Africa, weeks after sending an initial group of five migrants to the country, according to The Associated Press.
The flight with the 10 migrants from various locations originated in Louisiana and reached Eswatini earlier Monday, after stops in Puerto Rico, Senegal and Angola, the AP reported, citing officials on the ground and a lawyer for two of the deportees.
The five men deported earlier this year — from Cuba, Jamaica, Laos and Yemen — had various criminal backgrounds and convictions, according to a post from a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson at the time.
The Trump administration also recently notified the team of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was accidentally deported to El Salvador earlier this year, that immigration authorities were seeking to deport him to Eswatini, according to a DHS spokesperson.
Eswatini is a small kingdom of 1.2 million people bordering South Africa where King Mswati III has ruled with absolute power for almost 40 years. Human Rights Watch says it has reviewed documents that show the U.S. will pay Eswatini $5.1 million as part of a deal to take up to 160 deportees.
In his first months back in office, President Trump’s administration has talked with various countries about taking U.S. deportees, with the administration saying last week it would offer to pay migrant children for self-deportation.
The administration has also enacted an aggressive effort to identify, arrest and deport migrants without legal status in cities across the country, spurring protests outside Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) offices.
The Trump administration, in turn, has moved to deploy National Guard troops to some cities, which it says is necessary to protect ICE agents and buildings.
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller called these protests "domestic terrorism" in a Sunday post on the social platform X.
When reached for comment on the Eswatini deportations, DHS pointed The Hill to the White House, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.