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ICE deported ten migrants to Eswatini on second third-country removal flight

On October 6, 2025, ten migrants deported by the United States arrived in Eswatini, the second flight under the third-country removal arrangement the administration launched that July. An immigration lawyer said the group included at least three Vietnamese nationals, a Filipino, and a Cambodian national; Eswatini's Correctional Services department said it would hold them in correctional facilities pending repatriation efforts without specifying conditions. The flight brought the total number of third-country deportees sent to Eswatini to 15.

Part of: Trump Administration Third-Country Deportation Program

Jurisdiction
Federal
Location
United States; destination Eswatini

Abuses documented

Actors

Ten migrants deported by the United States arrived in Eswatini on Monday, October 6, 2025, the second flight under the third-country removal arrangement the Trump administration launched that July. Immigration lawyer Tin Thanh Nguyen said the group included at least three Vietnamese nationals, one Filipino, and one Cambodian national; the remaining nationalities were not disclosed in contemporaneous reporting. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said those deported did not belong in the United States, characterizing them as convicted of serious crimes.

Eswatini's Correctional Services department said deportees would be held in correctional facilities pending repatriation efforts, without specifying conditions; the first group deported in July 2025 had been held in isolated units without attorney access for months, raising concern the same conditions would apply to this second group. The flight brought the running total of third-country deportees sent to Eswatini to 15, ahead of at least two more flights over the following year.

Why we recorded this

Due process requires that people facing removal from the United States be able to challenge that removal and undergo torture-risk screening before transfer to a country that is not their own. Here U.S. immigration authorities sent ten migrants to Eswatini under the same third-country removal arrangement used for an earlier group, again holding them in correctional facilities without charge or disclosed conditions. This archive records when removal is executed outside ordinary legal process and results in indefinite offshore detention.

Sources

  1. US sends another 'third-country' deportation flight to Eswatini — Al Jazeera primary accessed July 8, 2026
  2. More deportees from U.S. arrive in African nation of Eswatini — NBC News primary accessed July 8, 2026
  3. Eswatini receives 10 third-country deportees from US — CNN secondary accessed July 8, 2026

See also