The United States delivered four more African migrants to Eswatini on Thursday, officials said, marking the third shipment of people the Trump administration has sent to the small kingdom under its secret third‑country deportation deals.
The new arrivals — a Tanzanian, a Sudanese and two Somali nationals — will be repatriated to their countries of origin, the Eswatini government said in a statement, though it did not disclose where the migrants are being held.
Since July 2025 the United States has transferred at least 19 people to Eswatini in three batches as part of a broader policy that has sent more than 40 migrants to Africa, according to the Trump administration’s agreements with at least seven African nations, including Ghana, Rwanda, Uganda, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and South Sudan.
The first group, dispatched in July, consisted of five men convicted of crimes who had deportation orders. A Jamaican man in that initial batch was later repatriated to Jamaica in September.
Eswatini’s officials added that a third‑country national has already received travel documents and will leave the kingdom shortly, and that discussions with other countries of origin for the remaining migrants are ongoing.
In a statement, the Eswatini government reiterated its “commitment to ensuring that the rights and dignity of the third‑country nationals are upheld while they remain in the country.” The arrivals have sparked protests by local civic groups, who point to the kingdom’s own record of suppressing pro‑democracy movements under a monarch with absolute power.
A report compiled by the Democratic staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released last month, estimated that the Trump administration has spent at least $40 million to deport roughly 300 migrants to third countries in Africa, Central America and elsewhere. Critics argue that the practice sidesteps standard asylum procedures and places vulnerable people in uncertain legal limbo.
The latest development underscores ongoing controversy over the United States’ hard‑line immigration approach and raises fresh questions about the responsibilities of third‑country hosts like Eswatini, where human‑rights advocates warn that migrants may face further rights violations while awaiting repatriation.