A plane carrying a group of Southeast Asian migrants deported from the United States has landed in the southern African nation of Eswatini, according to a lawyer representing two of the deportees.
It’s the latest flight under a controversial U.S. deportation program that sends migrants to third countries in Africa under secretive agreements first established during the Trump administration.
Lawyer Tin Thanh Nguyen, based in the U.S., said his two Vietnamese clients were among at least nine Southeast Asian nationals on board. The group had been detained at a Louisiana immigration center before being flown to Eswatini, with stops in Puerto Rico, Senegal, and Angola along the way.
Eswatini officials confirmed they expect to receive 11 deportees from the U.S. this month, though they did not specify arrival dates. The country already holds four men from Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, and Yemen in a maximum-security prison after being deported in July. Lawyers say those men have been detained without charge and denied access to legal counsel for nearly three months.
Rights groups have condemned the deportation deals, warning that deportees risk arbitrary detention and abuse. Documents seen by Human Rights Watch suggest the U.S. will pay Eswatini $5.1 million to take in up to 160 migrants.
Since July, the U.S. has deported more than 30 migrants to African nations, including South Sudan, Rwanda, and Ghana. Several deportees remain in detention, while others have filed lawsuits over alleged mistreatment and poor living conditions.
The Eswatini deal has sparked renewed criticism of Washington’s deportation policies especially over the lack of transparency and potential human rights violations in the receiving countries.
