Overview

• An Axios investigation found U.S. officials sent several convicted immigrants to prisons in Eswatini and South Sudan even though their native countries said they would have accepted them.
• Eswatini announced it will receive 11 additional third-country nationals from the United States this month and said they will be kept in a secured area pending repatriation arrangements.
• Case examples include a Mexican man flown to South Sudan who has since been returned to Mexico and a Jamaican man sent to Eswatini who was later repatriated, with attorneys saying Vietnam was not notified about two of its citizens.
• Texts of agreements obtained by Axios show Eswatini agreed to accept up to 160 deportees for $5.1 million and Rwanda up to 250 for $7.5 million.
• DHS officials defended the policy as necessary to remove criminals, while lawsuits and rights groups challenge the legality and report detainees were initially held in solitary confinement.