Eswatini Detains 10 Migrants Deported by U.S. in Third-Country Program

A plane carrying 10 migrants deported from the United States arrived in Eswatini early Monday and the southern African kingdom has placed them in a secured correctional facility, officials said. The arrivals mark the second group sent to Eswatini under a U.S. program that relocates noncitizens to third countries, and follow the transfer of five men to the kingdom in July.

The Eswatini government said in a statement that the 10 third-country nationals had been securely accommodated in a correctional facility, were in good health and were undergoing admission processes while authorities make arrangements for their return to countries of origin. The statement did not name the individuals, specify nationalities or disclose where they are being held. A U.S.-based lawyer representing some of the deportees said the flight departed from the Alexandria Staging Facility in Louisiana and made stops in Puerto Rico, Senegal and Angola before arriving in Eswatini.

Tin Thanh Nguyen, who said he represents two Vietnamese nationals on the flight, told reporters there were at least nine Southeast Asian nationals on board and that he tracked the plane with the assistance of a rights group. Nguyen...