MBABANE (Reuters) -Eswatini will receive 11 more third-country nationals deported from the United States this month, the southern African country said, after accepting a first group of five deportees in July.
“The individuals will be kept in a secured area separate from the public, while arrangements are made for their return to their countries of origin,” said a statement from Eswatini’s government released on Sunday evening.
It did not specify the date of their arrival.
President Donald Trump aims to deport millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally and his administration has sought to ramp up removals to third countries as part of that crackdown.
The first five immigrants deported to Eswatini this year were from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Cuba and Yemen. One man, from Jamaica, has already been repatriated with the cooperation of his government.
Two others are expected to be repatriated soon, the statement from Eswatini said.
Eswatini, a small mountain kingdom bordering South Africa, has not disclosed the terms of its deal with the Trump administration and is facing a lawsuit from local activists who claim it was illegal.
Legal and human rights activists have also protested the treatment of the deportees, the first group of whom were held in prison in solitary confinement.
(Reporting by Lunga Masuku; Writing by Sfundo Parakozov and Nellie Peyton; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
