The US has deported five people who it described as “criminal illegal aliens” to the southern African kingdom of Eswatini.
On board the flight were five deportees from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Cuba and Yemen who have been convicted of crimes ranging from child rape to murder, US Homeland Security Department Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an online post.
“This flight took individuals so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back,” McLaughlin wrote on X.
Eswatini, the last absolute monarchy in Africa, said it acknowledged “widespread concern” within the country regarding the deportations.
“Five inmates are currently housed in our correctional facilities in isolated units, where similar offenders are kept. The nation is assured that these inmates pose no threat to the country or its citizens,” government spokesperson Thabile Mdluli said in a statement.
Eswatini and the US will work with the United Nation’s immigration agency to “facilitate the transit” of the deportees to their country of origin, Mdluli added.
Earlier this month, the US sent eight migrants from several countries to South Sudan after a court lifted restrictions on sending people to countries where they have no ties.
AP
