Cambodian Deportee Released from Eswatini, Returning Home

A Cambodian man deported by the United States to the southern African kingdom of Eswatini was released from a maximum-security prison on Wednesday and is set to return to his home country, according to his lawyer.

Pheap Rom, who had served a 15-year sentence in the United States for attempted murder, was deported to Eswatini in October under a third-country agreement. He was held at the facility alongside other deportees for five months without facing any criminal charges there. His U.S.-based lawyer, Tin Thanh Nguyen, described the detention as illegal in a statement and confirmed that Rom would board a commercial flight from Eswatini to Johannesburg, South Africa, as the first leg of his journey back to Cambodia.

Nguyen told the Associated Press that Rom had been released from U.S. custody in late 2024 after completing his sentence. The lawyer's efforts, including legal challenges, facilitated the release and repatriation process. This marks the second such return from Eswatini under the program, following an earlier case.

The third-country initiative allows the U.S. to send migrants to nations other than their countries of origin when repatriation proves difficult. Since July,...