Eswatini receives two more arrivals under U.S. removal deal
Eswatini said Thursday, August 27, 2026, that two more Latin American nationals removed from the United States had arrived under a bilateral third-country arrangement. The government did not identify the individuals, disclose their specific countries of origin or say how long they would remain in the southern African kingdom.
The announcement adds to a program that lawyers and human rights groups have criticized because people are transferred to a country where they have no known ties. It also leaves basic questions about the latest arrivals unanswered, including their legal status, location, conditions and access to counsel.
What Eswatini disclosed
Acting government spokesperson Thabile Mdluli said the two individuals arrived after consultations and arrangements among the governments of Eswatini and the United States and other relevant authorities. She described them as third-country nationals received under established procedures for the temporary hosting of such people.
Eswatini did not say whether the two are being held in a prison, housed elsewhere or permitted to move freely. It also did not publicly explain the legal basis governing their stay, whether they have received independent legal advice or what protection screening has been conducted.
Eswatini’s government said the number of third-country nationals temporarily hosted in the kingdom has been reduced by voluntary repatriations. Two earlier arrivals, from Mauritania and the Democratic Republic of Congo, left in August. The government also said a Somali national returned to Somalia on August 23 after requesting to reunite with family. Those departures show why the cumulative transfer figure should not be treated as the number currently hosted.
More than 30 transfers since 2025
Reuters reported that more than 30 people have been transferred from the United States to Eswatini since 2025. The latest pair were described only as Latin American nationals; their identities and specific nationalities remain undisclosed.
The arrangement is based on a memorandum signed May 14, 2025. According to the document, Eswatini agreed to accept up to 160 third-country nationals removed from the United States. In return, the United States agreed to provide $5.1 million to build Eswatini’s border and migration-management capacity.
The 160-person ceiling and the $5.1 million payment are terms of the 2025 memorandum, not a newly announced August 2026 expansion.
Why legal access remains a central issue
Eswatini says people transferred under the arrangement are temporarily hosted, are not serving prison sentences in Eswatini and may ultimately be repatriated or otherwise relocated. The government has also said it is working with the United States and international partners under established protocols.
Rights groups have challenged that account. Amnesty International has characterized earlier cases as involving arbitrary or prolonged detention and has raised concerns about secrecy, due process, access to lawyers and families, and the risk that people could be sent onward to places where they face serious harm. Those are the organization’s assessments, not adjudicated findings about the two newest arrivals.
The dispute over legal access has already reached Eswatini’s courts. The Supreme Court ruled that four earlier deportees could meet with a lawyer after they had been denied in-person legal counsel for nine months while held at a maximum-security prison. The ruling followed a lower-court decision that the government had appealed. The case underscored how little public information has been available about the treatment and legal position of people transferred under the arrangement.
What remains unresolved
The confirmed development is the arrival of two additional people on August 27. The unresolved questions concern what legal protections apply once they reach Eswatini, whether they are detained or accommodated elsewhere, how long they may stay, whether they can consult independent lawyers and whether repatriation or another relocation will be offered.
Further disclosures from Eswatini or U.S. authorities would clarify whether the arrangement is being used mainly for short-term transfers and voluntary returns or whether more people will continue to be sent under the existing 160-person framework.
Sources
- Associated Press — Eswatini receives 2 more US deportees under a controversial third-country deal
- Reuters — Eswatini receives two more third-country deportees from US
- Eswatini Positive News — Govt receives two more US deportees
- Amnesty International — Eswatini arrival of four more men under US unlawful removal deal
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