US deports immigrants from several countries to Africa’s Eswatini, calls them ‘uniquely barbaric’
The US department of homeland security called the deported immigrants ‘uniquely barbaric’, whose home countries ‘refused to take them back.’
The US department of homeland security on Tuesday revealed that it had deported several immigrants to southern Africa’s Eswatini after the Supreme Court lifted curbs on sending them to countries they don't belong to.
The DHS said a deportation flight carrying immigrants from different countries had landed in Eswatini. The department called the deported immigrants ‘uniquely barbaric’, whose home countries ‘refused to take them back.’
"A safe third country deportation flight to Eswatini in Southern Africa has landed — This flight took individuals so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back," US Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said.
The DHS spokesperson claimed in a thread on social media platform X that five deportees from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Cuba and Yemen were convicted of crimes ranging from child rape to murder.
The move from the department comes after the US Supreme Court last month cleared the way for President Donald Trump's administration to resume deporting migrants to countries other than their own without offering them a chance to show the harm they could face. The decision handed the government a win in its aggressive pursuit of mass deportations.
The ICE memo on third-country deportation under the Donald Trump administration
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) acting director, Todd Lyons, sent out a memo last Wednesday saying that the agency could deport migrants to countries other than their home nations with as little as 'six hours' notice.
ICE will generally wait at least 24 hours to deport someone after informing them of their removal to a so-called "third country," the memo quoted by Reuters read.
Lyons’ memo revealed that ICE could remove the immigrants to a so-called "third country" with as little as six hours' notice "in exigent circumstances”, as long as the person was provided the chance to speak with an attorney.
The memo stated that migrants could be sent to nations that have pledged not to persecute or torture them "without the need for further procedures."
The new ICE policy suggested the Trump administration could move quickly to send migrants to countries around the world.
Human rights advocates have raised due process and other concerns over Trump's immigration policies that his administration has cast as measures aimed at improving domestic security.
