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Trump Administration Third-Country Deportations to Eswatini
The U.S. and Eswatini signed a memorandum of understanding in mid-2025 for third-country deportations. Multiple flights have since transferred people who in some cases held U.S.-granted humanitarian protections.
The US and Eswatini signed an MOU dated May 14, 2025. At least 30 people have been forcibly sent across four flights (Jul 15 2025, Oct 6 2025, Mar 11 2026, Jul 8 2026); several had US-granted humanitarian protections.
2026 Events (1)
ICE re-detained Baltimore man in defiance of federal release order, moved him toward deportation to Eswatini
On March 9, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement re-detained Ibrahim Mohammed, a Baltimore-area Ethiopian man, roughly five weeks after a federal judge in Louisiana had ordered his release and found ICE's prior detention of him unconstitutional. ICE served Mohammed a Notice of Revocation of Release on March 10 and moved him toward the airport for removal to Eswatini, a country he had never been to, before U.S. District Judge John deGravelles issued an emergency five-day restraining order blocking his deportation. DeGravelles found no evidence Mohammed had been given the process his own order required before either the re-detention or the planned third-country removal.
2025 Events (1)
United States and Eswatini signed MOU for third-country deportations
The United States and Eswatini signed a Memorandum of Understanding dated May 14, 2025, made available on the State Department website that June. Under it, at least 30 people have been forcibly sent to Eswatini across four flights between July 2025 and July 2026; a DHS spokesperson described the initial group as "depraved monsters" despite several having U.S.-granted humanitarian protections.