U.S. Sends New Batch Of Deportees To African Country Where Migrants Are Held In Maximum-Security Prison

The Trump administration has conducted a new deportation flight to the African country of Eswatini, where the four people who have already been sent there are held in a maximum security prison.

Lawyers for the four men already deported to Eswatini told the Associated Press that they have been detained without charge and denied access to legal counsel for almost three months. The U.S. has not made reference to the allegations but claims all men are criminals who had deportation orders.

Tin Thanh Nguyen, a U.S.-based lawyer who claims to represent two Vietnamese nationals on the flight, said the plane stopped in Puerto Rico, Senegal and Angola before arriving in Eswatini. The kingdom's government said it agreed to receive 11 additional deportees in October but didn't specify when they would arrive. Overall, it has agreed to take up to 160 deportees.

Other African countries that are accepting deportees are Ghana, Rwanda, South Sudan and Uganda. Ghana is the latest one to do so,, with President John Mahama confirming last month that 14 West African nationals deported from the U.S. had arrived in the country.

"We agreed with Washington that West African nationals were acceptable because all our fellow West African nationals don't need a visa to come to our country," Mahama said, according to The Associated Press. He added that under the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocol on free movement, Ghana can admit any West African citizen without additional requirements. Mahama did not specify whether any of the deportees had criminal records.

The arrangement follows months of negotiations between U.S. officials and several African governments as the Trump administration seeks to expand deportation options for migrants whose countries of origin refuse to take them back. While Ghana is the first West African nation to confirm such an agreement, Uganda announced last month that it would also receive some deportees, provided they are not unaccompanied minors and have no criminal records.

The policy has faced sharp criticism from rights groups and legal experts, who question its legality and warn about potential human rights abuses. In Eswatini, five men deported by the U.S. in July remain in solitary confinement at a maximum-security facility without charge or access to legal counsel, according to CNN.