Five men from around the world—hailing from Jamaica, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, and Yemen—have spent more than two months in Eswatini’s Matsapha Correctional Complex, a maximum-security prison, without being charged or given access to legal counsel. Their predicament, which has drawn the attention and condemnation of Amnesty International and legal advocates, highlights the controversial expansion of the United States’ third-country deportation program under the Trump administration.
According to Associated Press and Los Angeles Times reporting, the five men were deported from the U.S. in mid-July 2025. The move came as part of a broader policy to send migrants with criminal records to African nations, often with which they have no personal or familial connection. Since July, the U.S. has deported migrants to at least four African countries—South Sudan, Eswatini, Rwanda, and Ghana. Uganda has also reportedly agreed to accept deportees, though no transfers there have been confirmed.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has defended the program, stating that the men were all serious criminals who had been convicted of offenses including murder and child rape, and that they had all been in the U.S. illegally with deportation orders. "The U.S. is using every tool available to get criminal illegal aliens out of American communities and out of our country," a Homeland Security spokesperson said, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. The agency further emphasized its commitment on social media, posting, "[We] will continue enforcing the law at full speed — without apology."
Yet lawyers representing the men argue that they had already served their sentences in the U.S., in some cases being released into the community, only to be abruptly detained and sent to Eswatini without warning or explanation. Tin Thanh Nguyen, a lawyer for the men from Laos and Vietnam, stated, "Then, without warning and explanation from either the U.S. or Eswatini governments, they were arbitrarily arrested and sent to a country to which they have never ever been. They are now being punished indefinitely for a sentence they already served."
For Orville Etoria, the Jamaican national among the five, the situation is especially fraught. The Legal Aid Society, a New York-based organization representing Etoria, said he had served a 25-year prison sentence and was granted parole in 2021. Yet, despite his home country’s willingness to accept him, Etoria was deported to Eswatini, contradicting Homeland Security’s claim that the men were sent to Eswatini because their home countries refused to take them. Jamaica’s foreign minister has publicly stated that the Caribbean nation did not refuse to take back its citizens.
Alma David, a lawyer representing the men from Yemen and Cuba, described the Kafkaesque situation her clients face: "No lawyer has been permitted to visit them," she said, adding that she had been told by the head of the Eswatini prison that only the U.S. Embassy could grant access to the men. "Since when does the U.S. Embassy have jurisdiction over Eswatini’s national prisons?" she asked, highlighting the confusion and lack of transparency surrounding the detentions.
Amnesty International has called on Eswatini authorities to officially disclose the men’s whereabouts, immediately grant them regular and confidential access to their lawyers, and provide legal grounds for their detention. The international rights organization pressed, "The Eswatini authorities must officially disclose the five men’s whereabouts, immediately grant them regular and confidential access to their lawyers, and provide legal grounds for their detention."
Despite these calls, Eswatini authorities have declined to comment or reveal the men’s location, citing security reasons. When the men first arrived, the government said they were in transit and would be sent to their home countries. However, two months later, the men remain in solitary confinement at Matsapha Correctional Complex, according to their lawyers. The prison itself is notorious, with reports of abuse—including beatings and denial of food—against political prisoners and pro-democracy campaigners. Eswatini, ruled by King Mswati III, is Africa’s last absolute monarchy, with political parties effectively banned and accusations of repression against pro-democracy movements commonplace.
The legal battle to secure the men’s rights has been slow and fraught with delays. Court cases in Eswatini challenging the detention and denial of lawyer access have been filed, but hearings have been repeatedly postponed. A separate case by local advocacy groups accusing authorities of illegal detention is scheduled for a hearing in the week of September 20, 2025.
The controversy extends beyond Eswatini. In Ghana, eleven West Africans deported by the U.S. in September 2025 are suing the Ghanaian government, alleging illegal detention at a military camp. The Ghanaian government maintains that all 14 deportees who arrived have been sent to their home countries, but lawyers for the deportees dispute this, saying 11 are still being held in dire conditions. According to U.S. Homeland Security, "many" of those deported to Ghana had criminal records, though the specifics of their cases remain murky.
In South Sudan and Rwanda, authorities have also declined to provide details on the status or location of deportees sent by the U.S. South Sudan recently repatriated one Mexican national after two months of detention, but the fate of others remains unknown. The deportations to Rwanda were kept secret until recently, with Rwandan authorities refusing to disclose the identities or whereabouts of seven migrants transferred in August.
For critics, these secretive third-country transfers are deeply troubling. Nguyen, the lawyer for the men from Laos and Vietnam, argued, "The U.S. government is orchestrating secretive third-country transfers with no meaningful legal process, resulting in indefinite detention." Amnesty International and other rights organizations warn that sending deportees to countries with questionable human rights records, where they have no ties, increases the risk of abuse and denies them due process. The fact that the five men in Eswatini are being held at U.S. taxpayers’ expense only adds another layer of complexity and controversy to the situation.
The U.S. government has largely deflected questions about the treatment of deportees in Africa, referring inquiries to the authorities of the countries involved. Eswatini’s government spokesperson declined to comment when contacted by the Los Angeles Times on Friday.
With court dates looming and international pressure mounting, the fate of the five men detained in Eswatini remains uncertain. Their ordeal has become a flashpoint in the ongoing debate over the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration policies and the ethics of third-country deportation agreements. As legal advocates, rights organizations, and the families of those detained press for answers, the world waits to see whether justice and due process will prevail—or whether the men will remain caught in a legal and diplomatic limbo far from home.