October 1, 2026
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The United States sent five men it describes as “barbaric” criminals to the small African nation of Eswatini in an expansion of the Trump administration's third-country deportation program, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday.
The U.S. has already deported eight men to another African country, South Sudan, after the Supreme Court lifted restrictions on sending people to countries where they have no ties. The South Sudanese government has declined to say where those men, also described as violent criminals, are after it took custody of them nearly two weeks ago.
In a post on X, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the men sent to Eswatini, who are citizens of Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, Yemen, and Laos, had arrived on a plane, but didn't say when or where.
She said they were all convicted criminals and “individuals so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back.”
The men “have been terrorizing American communities" but were now "off of American soil,” McLaughlin added.
McLaughlin said they had been convicted of crimes including murder and child rape, and one was a confirmed gang member. Her social media posts included mug shots of the men and what she said were their criminal records. They were not named.
Like in South Sudan, there was no immediate comment from Eswatini authorities over any deal to accept third-country deportees or what would happen to them in that country.
Eswatini, previously called Swaziland, is a country of about 1.2 million people between South Africa and Mozambique. It is one of the world’s last remaining absolute monarchies and the last in Africa. King Mswati III has ruled by decree since 1986.
The Trump administration has said it is seeking more deals with African nations to take deportees from the U.S. Leaders from some of the five West African nations who met last week with President Donald Trump at the White House said the issue of migration and their countries possibly taking deportees from the U.S. was discussed.
The U.S. also has sent hundreds of Venezuelans and others to Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Panama, but has identified Africa as a continent where it might find more governments willing to strike deportation agreements.
Rwanda’s foreign minister told the AP last month that talks were underway with the U.S. about a potential agreement to host deported migrants.
The eight men deported by the U.S. to war-torn South Sudan, where they arrived early this month, previously spent weeks at a U.S. military base in nearby Djibouti, located on the northeast border of Ethiopia, as the case over the legality of sending them there played out.
The South Sudanese government has not released details of its agreement with the U.S. to take deportees, nor has it said what will happen to the men.
Analysts say some African nations might be willing to take third-country deportees in return for more favorable terms from the U.S. in negotiations over tariffs, foreign aid, and investment, and restrictions on travel visas.
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