MBABANE, Eswatini (AFP) — The United States deported about a dozen people to Eswatini on Wednesday, an American immigration lawyer and local sources told AFP, the latest expulsion to the repressive southern African country.

The deportees were not from Eswatini, in line with the unprecedented “third-country” deportation deal struck by Washington that has seen people from around the world sent there.

Jamaica has signed a similar third-country nationals deal with the US but the Administration of Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has insisted that the people to be sent here will not be “deportees in the strictest sense.”

In addition the Jamaica Government has said those sent here will not be convicts, no more than 25 will come at any goven time, and if more than 10 are in the island the agreement will be suspended.

There has been no indication from the Government if, or how much, Jamaica will be paid for accepting the third-country nationals but an AFP investigation found that the US has offered multimillion-dollar deals and threatened visa restrictions in a bid to get countries to take deportees — part of President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging immigration crackdown.

Alma David, a US immigration attorney familiar with some of the deportees’ cases, said 11 people were sent to Eswatini, including at least two who have legal protection that advocates say should shield them from deportation.

A local source put the number at nine. Their nationalities were unclear but another source said those details would emerge when they are processed this morning.

Eswatini has already received 19 deportees since July 2025. Two of them — a Jamaican and Cambodian — have been repatriated, but 17 remain in a high-security prison, held without charge.

A Government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said an official convoy had travelled to the main international airport “to process and receive new US deportees”.

ICE Flight Monitor, a tracker affiliated with non-profit Human Rights First, identified two small planes that took off from the southern US state of Louisiana on Tuesday, refuelled in Senegal, and then landed in Eswatini on Wednesday afternoon.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to a request for comment.

Eswatini, Africa’s last absolute monarchy, confirmed last year it had received around US$5.1 million from America to accept the deportees.

According to a document revealed by Human Rights Watch and seen by AFP, Eswatini agreed to take 160 deportees in exchange for funds to strengthen its border and migration management capacity.

Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, has been led by King Mswati III since 1986.

His Government has been accused of human rights violations and Amnesty International has called the deportation scheme “deeply abusive”.

Trump in his second term has expanded who is eligible for deportation, targeting those with legal protections that under previous administrations allowed them to live and work in the US for fear of persecution in their home countries.

Washington has argued that legally it is only barred from sending such people home directly.

While countries like Eswatini have held US deportees indefinitely, other countries, such as Ghana, have quickly sent the deportees they received back to their home countries.