WASHINGTON: The United States deported five migrants from Asian and Caribbean countries to the small African kingdom of Eswatini, officials said Tuesday. The deported migrants are nationals of Cuba, Jamaica, Laos, Vietnam and Yemen.
"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 X. They were convicted of violent crimes such as child rape and murder, according to DHS. US President Donald Trump’s 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.
The US Supreme Court in June paved the way for the Trump administration to resume deportations of undocumented migrants to countries that are not their own. 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 criticized for his lavish lifestyle and has faced accusations of human rights violations. His country, formerly known as Swaziland, is landlocked by neighbors South Africa and Mozambique. Trump campaigned for president last year promising to expel millions of undocumented migrants from the United States. Since returning to the White House in January, he has taken a number of actions aimed at speeding up such deportations.
In late June, the US Supreme Court cleared the way for President Donald Trump’s administration to resume deporting migrants to countries other than their own without offering them a chance to show the harms they could face. The decision handed the government a win in its aggressive pursuit of mass deportations. "A safe third country deportation flight to Eswatini in Southern Africa has landed. This flight took individuals so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back,” US Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said late on Tuesday.
Earlier this month, a top Trump administration official said in a memo that US immigration officials may deport migrants to countries other than their home nations with as little as six hours’ notice. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement will generally wait at least 24 hours to deport someone after informing them of their removal to a so-called "third country,” according to a memo dated July 9 from the agency’s acting director, Todd Lyons.
ICE could remove them, however, to a so-called "third country” with as little as six hours’ notice "in exigent circumstances,” the memo said, as long as the person was provided the chance to speak with an attorney. The memo stated that migrants could be sent to nations that have pledged not to persecute or torture them "without the need for further procedures.”
The new ICE policy suggested the Trump administration could move quickly to send migrants to countries around the world. Human rights advocates have raised due process and other concerns over Trump’s immigration policies that his administration has cast as measures aimed at improving domestic security. — Reuters
