The Trump administration’s recent deportation of five migrants to the southern African country of Eswatini is the latest in the country’s unprecedented expansion of its immigration enforcement system. This has included growing numbers of migrant raids and arrests, massive injections of funding for Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE), record numbers of detentions, and a proliferating range of overseas targets for “third-country deportations”–including, most recently, the tiny island nation of Palau.
Destination Eswatini
In mid-July, Eswatini officials announced that they had agreed to receive five deportees from the United States, all of whom are from remote countries: Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, Yemen, and Laos. Upon arrival, the men were placed in solitary confinement in an undisclosed correctional facility. The men had reportedly been convicted of serious crimes in the U.S, including assault and battery, first degree murder, and burglary. U.S officials justified the extreme measure in part by describing the deportees as “monsters” who are “so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back.”
Although Eswatini government officials refused to confirm the facility or facilities in which the men have been held, citing purported security concerns, local media outlets like the Independent News Eswatini have reported that they are being held at the Matsapha Correctional Complex, southeast of the country’s largest city, Mbabane.
This prison has been heavily criticised in the past for its abusive practices. In 2024, Amnesty International reported that prison authorities were denying food to a political prisoner detained there. A delegation from the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, whose mission to Eswatini coincided with the U.S deportations, commended improvements in the conditions at the Matsapha prison as well as efforts to reduce overcrowding.
Despite the apparent improvements at Matsapha, there are indications that detention conditions in general in Eswatini remain abusive and well below international standards. On 8 July, UNDP reported that “Eswatini is grappling with overcrowding challenges in its correctional facilities” and that nine of the country’s 11 correctional facilities “have accused persons who have been detained for more than 12 months without trial.” The U.S State Department has also noted concerns, including decaying facilities, poor ventilation, inadequate food and medical provision, and prisoner-on-prisoner violence.”
The deportation of foreign nationals to Eswatini would appear to violate provisions in the UN Convention against Torture, which the U.S has signed and ratified. Article 3 states that “No State Party shall expel, return (“refouler”) or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.” The U.S State Department has also previously noted that in Eswatini there are “credible reports of arbitrary or unlawful killings, including extrajudicial killings; torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by the government.”
Although the country is not a party to the UN Convention on Migrant Workers, which specifically protects the rights of detained migrants, the detention of the U.S deportees appears to violate numerous standards laid out by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in its Revised Deliberation 5 on the deprivation of liberty of migrants. Among its numerous relevant standards, Deliberation 5 provides that all migration-related detentions be “prescribed by legislation that clearly defines and exhaustively lists the reasons that are legitimate aims justifying detention”–something that Eswatini has manifestly failed to demonstrate in its detention of the five U.S deportees–and that “detained migrants must be treated humanely and with respect for their inherent dignity.” Despite the African Commission’s delegation’s supportive words about improvements at Matsapha, it remains far from clear whether the conditions of detention of these deportees–including their placement in solitary confinement–meets the standards laid out by the UN Working Group in its Deliberation 5, which states: “The conditions of their detention must be humane, appropriate and respectful, noting the non-punitive character of the detention in the course of migration proceedings. Detention conditions and treatment must not be such as to impede the ability to challenge the lawfulness of detention, and detention should not be used as a tool to discourage asylum applications.”
Growing local opposition to the detention of the U.S deportees has also emphasised violations of Eswatini’s international human rights legal obligations. The Swaziland Multi-Stakeholder Forum, for instance, issued a statement in which it noted: “Accepting deportees under a so-called “safe third country” deal particularly when they face no connection to Eswatini may violate obligations under international law, including the principle of non-refoulement and the right to seek asylum. Deporting or relocating individuals to third countries without due process and bilateral agreements also contravenes the spirit of global human rights norms.”
The same group also challenged the agreement with the U.S, arguing: “This situation sets a dangerous precedent whereby powerful nations may use smaller, economically weaker states as dumping grounds for unwanted individuals. This practice reeks of neo-colonial exploitation and poses long-term risks to our national security, human rights record and global reputation. Eswatini’s sovereignty and dignity must not be traded off for unclear deals or political expediency.” The Swaziland Solidarity Network similarly stated that it is “clear racism to think Africa is a dumping ground for Donald Trump.” The Southern Africa Litigation Centre has also questioned the legality of their detention in Eswatini, pointing to several key laws that appear to have been violated by the agreement with the U.S, including Correctional Services Act and Immigration Act No. 17 of 1982, which provides that a person convicted of murder in another country should be deemed an “undesirable” and therefore “prohibited” migrant.
According to an Eswatini government spokesman, the five men will ultimately be returned to their countries of origin–highlighting an apparent lack of coordination between the two governments, and raising questions about the intended purpose of their detention in Eswatini. While the spokesperson told the Associated Press that the men had previously been jailed in the U.S, it is unclear whether they had completed their sentences or not.
U.S Supercharges Immigration Enforcement
Driving the U.S deportation regime has been the unprecedented expansion of domestic immigration enforcement budgets and actions, along with key rulings by the U.S Supreme Court permitting third country deportations.
In early July, the U.S Congress voted through legislation heavily supported by President Donald Trump, which provides massive increases in funding for border control and detention centres. It includes more than 46 billion USD for expanding border walls, 45 billion USD for increasing detainee bed capacity, and another 30 billion USD for boosting hiring and training of new officers at U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). According to one estimate, under the new legislation, ICE’s annual budget will increase from some 9 billion USD to nearly 30 billion USD, including $75 billion allocated over the next four years, which one commentator remarked will “supercharge immigration enforcement.”
Even before the bill was passed, however, U.S immigration detention numbers had spiked to their highest levels ever, reaching 59,000 detainees by late June, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Reporting on ICE detention records, CBS News noted that by 23 June ICE detention levels were “at over 140%, since Congress last allocated 41,500 detainee beds for the agency.” (Although Congress has budgeted for 41,500 beds, ICE has a larger “contracted” capacity, which according to TRAC Immigration was 62,913 as of April 14, 2025.)
At the same time, ICE is also making record numbers of migrant arrests. According to figures from ICE, immigration arrests since Trump took office in January topped 100,000 by the start of June. As one news outlet reported, these numbers “show ICE is getting closer to meeting the far-reaching demands of top administration officials like White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, an immigration hardliner who has forcefully pushed the agency to conduct ‘a minimum’ of 3,000 arrests each day.”
The growing deportation regime has also been enabled by a June U.S Supreme Court ruling, which upheld the government’s authority to transfer non-citizens to third countries–even if those individuals are not nationals of, or previously connected to, the receiving state, and without offering them a chance to demonstrate the harms they might face. In the past four months, authorities have sent deportees to countries including South Sudan (via Djibouti), Panama, El Salvador, and Rwanda, as part of what the Intercept has dubbed the administration’s “global gulag search.” According to the news organisation, the Trump administration has “explored, sought or struck deals” with 53 nations, including Angola, Benin, Ivory Coast, Kosovo, Malawi, Moldova, Ukraine, Vanuatu, and Zambia.
Commenting on what they call “Trump’s multi-layered” immigration detention expansion plan, the U.S Detention Watch Network published an “expansion map” indicating key sites in the growing U.S immigration detention estate. The group argues the U.S administration “has proliferated ICE operations into other government agencies, including the Bureau of Prisons and the Department of Defense, using military bases as deportation hubs and growing ICE partnerships with local sheriffs and county jails. The administration has expanded surveillance, brought back family detention, began an unprecedented carceral partnership with El Salvador, and increased neighborhood and workplace raids that hurt communities and disappear people, including activists who oppose Trump’s agenda, into ICE’s network, often sowing fear and confusion.”
