The US says it has deported what it described as five “criminal illegal aliens” to the southern African kingdom of Eswatini.
On board the flight were five deportees from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Cuba and Yemen who have been convicted of crimes ranging from child rape to murder, US Homeland Security Department Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an online post.
“This flight took individuals so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back,” McLaughlin wrote on X.
Earlier this month, after weeks of delays, the US sent eight migrants from several countries to South Sudan.
The country initially agreed to accept the deportees. As a result, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked all visas for South Sudanese passport holders. It is not clear if that has now changed.
Last week, Nigeria said it would not bow to pressure from the Trump administration to accept Venezuelan deportees or third-country prisoners from the US.
President Donald Trump’s pledge to conduct mass deportations was a centrepiece of his election campaign and an issue on which he drew widespread support, including many Hispanic voters.
He said he wanted to deport people living in the US illegally but White House efforts have been much broader in scope – taking aim at people in the US on student visas, suspending admissions of refugees except white South Africans, and moving to revoke temporary work permits and other protections that had been granted to immigrants by previous presidents.
To crack down on immigrants, Trump’s administration has resumed raids at workplaces, a tactic that had been suspended under his predecessor, Joe Biden.
In a series of posts on the X social media platform, McLaughlin listed the crimes the five had been convicted of, describing them as “depraved monsters” who had been “terrorizing American communities”.
“A safe third country deportation flight to Eswatini in Southern Africa has landed,” she said, adding: “They are off of American soil”.
Eswatini, the last absolute monarchy in Africa, has not commented on the arrival of the flight.
But the tiny African country had been named in media reports as a potential recipient of deportees from the US.
Formerly known as Swaziland, Eswatini is landlocked by neighbours South Africa and Mozambique. It has been led by King Mswati III since 1986.
Last month, the US Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to resume deporting migrants to countries other than their own.
Rwanda has confirmed discussions have taken place, while Benin, Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Moldova have been named in media reports as potential recipient countries.
Trump’s administration has already deported people to El Salvador and Costa Rica.