Archive photo of prisoners for illustration purposes only. (Photo: Wikus de Wet / AFP).
Four more men deported from the US as part of Washington’s plan to deport undocumented migrants have arrived in Eswatini, the government and a lawyer said on Thursday.
The small country already took in 15 men last year as part of agreements between the US and several African countries to accept migrants in terms of a third-country deportation program. Human rights groups have widely criticized this program.
Two of the newly deported are from Somalia, one from Tanzania and one from Sudan, Alma David, a migration lawyer in the US who represents some of the other detainees, told AFP.
The government also confirmed in a statement that the four men had been received and that their nationalities had been verified.
The four arrived late on Wednesday evening at the maximum security Matsapha correctional centre, outside the capital, said an officer who wished to remain anonymous.
“They are healthy,” the officer told AFP. “They are currently being oriented by the departments of social welfare and health.”
According to the officer, the facility is also making preparations to receive around 140 more deportees.
According to a document released by Human Rights Watch in September and seen by the AFP, Eswatini agreed to take 160 deportees in exchange for funding to strengthen its border and migration management capabilities.
Eswatini, Africa’s last absolute monarchy, confirmed in November that it had received about $5.1 million from the US to accept the deportees.
Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Rwanda and South Sudan have also accepted deportees from the US. According to reports, this year Cameroon received 17 Africans who were deported from the USA.
Archive photo for illustration purposes only. (Photo: X)
Authorities in Eswatini say they are detaining the deportees only while arrangements are finalized for their repatriation to their countries of origin.
One of the men sent to Eswatini – a 62-year-old Jamaican who apparently served a murder sentence in the USA – was already sent back to Jamaica in September.
Another detainee will leave the kingdom “soon”, the acting government spokesperson, Thabile Mdluli, said on Thursday.
“Intensive discussions with the respective countries of origin of the remaining third-country nationals continue,” she said, adding that their rights will be respected.
However, lawyers and civil society organizations in Eswatini went to court to challenge the legality of the detention. They argue that the deportees are being held “indefinitely” without charges.